The Truth
by Semordnilap
Summary: The Santa Barbara Police Department is given a mysterious package with instructions to watch the video it contains. Chief Karen Vick, Detectives Lassiter and O'Hara, Shawn and Henry Spencer, and Gus are all gathered together. Truths are brought to light, relationships shaken, and pineapple smoothies are consumed.
1. Prologue

**A/N**

 **This is my first fanfic, I've always loved the characters read the story or characters watch the movie fics, but haven't had much luck in finding characters watch their TV show. I thought Psych would be such a good fit for this style because of Shawn's secret, so I decided this needed to be written. I will not be using every single episode of the show, only ones that I feel contain major story arcs, secrets, or just some of my favorite scenes.**

 **POV will be Juliet's, and this is set somewhere around the end of the sixth season, but before the Santabarbaratown episodes. It has been awhile since I've watched these episodes, so there may be mistakes.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Psych, all characters and show story lines are not mine.**

It was a quiet morning in the Santa Barbara Police Department. There had been little to no cases coming in, so many of the police officers were taking the time to finish their paperwork, albeit begrudgingly.

"That's it O'Hara, I'm calling in McNab." Lassiter slammed down the report he was working on.

His partner rolled her eyes and looked up from her own paperwork. "Carlton, we've already been through this. It's your paperwork, you have to do it."

"But I don't want to." Lassiter whined. "I have more important things to do than waste my time with this grunt work."

"There haven't been any new cases coming in and besides, McNab is on parking ticket duty."

Lassiter grimaced before reluctantly picking his pen back up, missing the bemused look of his partner. It had been a long week for everyone at the station, even Juliet was starting to feel the cabin fever. She sat back in her chair, idly twirling her pen as her mind wandered. What she'd give to have a case right now, to get out the office and have a new mystery to sink her teeth into. Maybe she'd even see Shawn.

Shaking her head at her own thoughts, Juliet sat back up and glanced again at Carlton as if to see he hadn't caught onto her thoughts. The other detective was now furiously scribbling into his report, hoping to finish it as soon as he could. Juliet shook her head again and poised her pen over the paper. She knew it was silly to think Carlton could sense her thoughts, the only person she knew that could do something like that was Shawn. Juliet subconsciously leaned back in her chair again as she thought about SBPD's consulting psychic. He definitely would liven up the room, but Juliet wasn't sure if Carlton's temper would handle Shawn on top of his pile of paperwork. Juliet sighed as she daydreamed about her boyfriend, some days she was in awe of his powers while other days she couldn't believe he was so childish. But she loved him.

"O'Hara, Lassiter, we've got something." Chief Karen Vick called out, startling Juliet out of her reverie. From the sound of worry in the Chief's voice, something big was happening.

"Yes." Lassiter did a fist pump in the air before launching himself into the Chief's office, leaving Juliet to follow after.

"What is it Chief? A homicide? A double homicide? A serial killer?" Lassiter was so animated he didn't take a seat, preferring to pace as he offered up more suggestions.

Chief Vick sat down and stared at him disapprovingly. "Detective Lassiter sit down. This isn't a case." Lassiter slumped into the seat next to Juliet, looking like a scolded five-year old. The Chief looked at both detectives and sighed before pulling out a package and placing it on her desk. "Honestly, I'm not sure what this is. Someone came in and gave this package to the front desk, we opened it and found a DVD case with a sticky note on it. The sticky note was addressed to me."

Lassiter had opened the package and took out the case while Karen spoke, reading the note out loud, "To Chief Karen Vick, please gather everyone on my list and watch this video. It should help you in the future." Lassiter scoffed and tossed the case back on the desk and got up to leave, while Juliet picked it up to look at the note. "Chief, this is probably just some stupid kid's idea of a joke." He dismissed.

"But Carlton, look at the names listed," Juliet said. "Carlton Lassiter, Juliet O'Hara, Shawn Spencer, Burton Guster, and Henry Spencer. That's an odd set of names for some prank. I think we should watch it, unless you want to go back to paperwork of course"

Lassiter paused and sat back down. "Well I guess you do have a point O'Hara, and besides there's no harm in watching it. In fact, why don't we start right now?"

Juliet smiled in victory.

"Not so fast. We need to get Shawn, Gus, and Henry down here." Karen said.

"But why? It's not like someone's going to be watching us to make sure we follow the rules. And besides, I bet that this whole thing is just a joke from Spencer." Carlton argued.

"I've already called them, they should be here soon." Karen countered. "I also had a video room set up with enough chairs for everyone. If you'll follow me?" The two detectives followed their chief into the hallway, one curious and the other grumbling under his breath.

Just as they left the Chief's office, a voice called out to them, "Karen, what's this about a DVD? I have other things to do." Juliet turned and waited as Henry Spencer caught up to them, smiling at him as he passed her to walk with Karen.

"I know Henry, I just want to make sure this isn't something we should be worried about." Karen placated. They continued over to the video room while she explained the mysterious package and the note demanding they all watch the video.

Henry sighed as he sat down in the chair closest to the door. "Why am I not surprised Shawn's in the middle of this?" Lassiter just scowled and sat down, Juliet sitting to his right.

"Did I hear my name?" A voice came from the doorway. Juliet turned to see Shawn carrying three smoothies with his trademark grin on his face. Gus followed him, also carrying three smoothies.

"Mr. Spencer, you are late." Karen looked down her nose at Shawn, who only grinned wider.

"We ran to get pineapple smoothies and what do you know, they were buy one get one free. We had to get one for everyone." Gus gave one to Juliet and tried to give one to Lassiter, who just glared at him.

"We don't want your stupid smoothie Spencer, you're wasting our time." Lassiter growled.

Shawn shrugged and fell into the seat next to Juliet. "More for me then."

"Dude, I told you we should have just come here." Gus admonished his friend as he sat between him and Henry.

Shawn just rolled his eyes. "Gus don't be a dentist handing out toothbrushes on Halloween. Pineapple smoothies are a necessity." Juliet smiled at the friendly banter took a sip of her smoothie. It really was a good smoothie. She looked sideways at Shawn who winked at her as if he knew what she was thinking before he also directed his attention towards the Chief.

"Right, just so we're all on the same page," Karen began. She gave a brief overview of how they were given a package that had their names on it, instructing them to watch a video. "We are watching the video to see if it has anything that should concern us. If it doesn't, we'll just stop it and throw it away."

"What if it does?" Juliet asked.

"Well, I guess we'll have to find out." Karen replied before hitting play.

 **I'm not sure what my updating schedule will be like, probably somewhere between one and two weeks between each chapter. The only exception will be next chapter, it's already written and I'm just proof reading and adjusting things so it will be up in the next day or so.**

 **Please review and tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, or anything I should change. Also, I know that many of the characters reading the books stories were taken down for violating the rules of this site, I'm not sure if this is the same for my story since you can google show transcripts and they're readily available for free. I currently have some parts of the transcript in my next chapter, and if anyone can give me advice for this so I can either edit out the transcript or just post it as is I would appreciate it!**

 **Up Next: Pilot**


	2. Pilot

**A/N**

 **Wow, I didn't realize how long this episode was until I started to write this chapter. I hope you guys enjoy the big reveal, it took me a long time to be happy with that section. I took my inspiration for Juliet's reactions from the episode Deez Nups and the couple of following episodes.**

 **I did some research and couldn't really come up with a concrete answer on if using the TV show's transcripts violates the rules in the same way as using the chapters from a book does. For right now, I kept the chapter as is but if I get a message that it does violate the rules then I'll edit out the transcript and repost the chapters later. I tried to not include too much of the transcript and focus more on the reactions and commentary.**

 **Everything is Juliet's POV**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Psych. All characters, show story lines, and quotes in bold are not mine.**

The screen was black, while the words 'Santa Barbara, 1986' appeared at the bottom and music played.

"1986? Why are we even watching something from this long ago?" Lassiter complained.

Juliet shrugged. "Maybe it's a cold case?"

The video turned to color, showing the inside of a diner.

"That diner looks familiar, doesn't it dad?" Shawn frowned.

"I don't know Shawn, all diners look like that."

 **"You do your homework?"**

 **"Uh-huh"**

Suddenly, the video focuses in on a table.

Shawn jumped in his seat, staring at the screen intensely while Henry's face pales. Everyone else's jaw drops a little as they comprehend just who is on the screen. The father and son continue their conversation but Juliet can't focus on the words.

"Shawn, is that you?" Juliet asks slowly, staring into the childhood face of her boyfriend.

"Uh-huh."

"And that's your father?"

"Yeah."

"Do you remember this happening?"

Shawn pauses for a moment and then shares a horror-filled glance with his father. "We need to stop this video right now."

"Wait what?" Juliet asks, concerned as Shawn jumps up faster than she's ever seen him and pauses the movie on the young Shawn Spencer's face before ejecting the disc.

"Hold it Spencer, what gives?" Lassiter shrewdly looks at the psychic.

Shawn tried to laugh it off while communicating with his father through hurried panicked looks. "Nothing Lassie-face. Just don't think we need to watch this anymore. I mean, what does it matter what my dad and I were doing in 1986, right?" As he spoke, Shawn kept inching towards the door. "So, we're all in agreement that we should just forget about the whole thing, sounds good I'll just take this with me."

Shawn made a move to run out the door, but Lassiter got there first. "Mr. Spencer, put that disc back in and sit down." Karen ordered. "Henry was still in active duty in 1986, this video might have something on one of his cases."

"Ah, Karen. I really don't think it does." Henry interjected. "I definitely don't remember any cold cases from then. So I think Shawn is right, we should all just go."

Juliet looked at all of the faces in the room. Shawn, Henry, and Gus all seemed panicked while the Chief and Carlton were confused and determined. What was on that disc that Shawn didn't want them to know?

"Shawn?" Juliet tried again.

Shawn looked into Juliet's eyes and she was shocked at the fear in them. As long as Juliet had known Shawn Spencer, she had never seen him so afraid. What could possibly be on the disc that was that bad?

Carlton grabbed the disc back from Shawn and shoved it into the player, resuming it from the beginning. The room was now in tense silence as Shawn returned to his seat. Juliet was torn between paying attention to the video and trying to comfort Shawn, but he wouldn't look at her so she soon gave up.

 **"Close your eyes"**

 **"Dad I don't wanna"**

 **"Now"**

 **"Ugh"**

The young Shawn finally did what his father asked, and Shawn tensed up even further. Juliet realized something was about to happen that Shawn didn't want everyone to know about. Maybe it was going to show one of his visions? Juliet didn't remember if Shawn had said when they started, but she didn't know why he would be so afraid for everyone to see one.

Then, the questions started.

And Shawn answered them.

Juliet stared at the screen, watching as Shawn flawlessly recounted everything about the room. Was it eidetic memory? Or maybe this is what his visions actually do look like? Juliet didn't know, but she was left with the sinking feeling that Shawn had been lying to her.

Juliet zoned out for the rest of the diner scene, trying to talk herself out of making any hasty decisions and she jumped at the scene change. It was obviously several years later, which the video confirmed by showing '2006...still Santa Barbara'.

"Do we really have to watch this?" Lassiter muttered as he turned his head from the scene. Juliet half expected Shawn to make some kind of joke about it, but he was still studying his shoes.

Juliet turned back to the screen as it showed a TV anchor interviewing a man about a break in. The video zoomed in on the man's hands and eyes, while onscreen Shawn reached for the phone.

 **"What are you doing?"**

 **"I'm calling the police."**

"Man, you really stopped in the middle of that to call in a tip?" Gus tried cajoling his friend into speaking.

"What do you mean call in a tip?" Juliet asked after it was obvious Shawn wouldn't answer.

"Spencer used to call in tips all of the time, claiming to know who did it." Lassiter answered.

Juliet turned back to the screen and watched as Shawn called in his tip, almost laughing at the expired license tags bit but still not able to muster up even a smile.

The video cut to Shawn arriving at the police department on motorcycle and his attempts to talk to Desk Sergeant Allen. Eventually Shawn was rebuked until he was forced to go sit on a bench next to a handcuffed man.

"Wait a minute." Lassiter said. "That's the guy with the tail light shards in his boot. That's how you knew?" He leaned forward in his seat and pointed at the still subdued Shawn. "I knew it! I knew you weren't a psychic."

"Detective be quiet, I can't listen while you're talking." Karen interjected. Juliet looked over at the Chief, who know seemed to be getting jumpy, glancing furtively at Shawn.

Juliet watched with tunnel vision as Shawn went through his interrogation. It was weird to watch Carlton and his old partner, Lucinda, together. She had been Carlton's partner for so long now that it seemed like it had always been that way. A small part of her was surprised at how observant Shawn was, while the overwhelming majority of her wished that she had never sat down to watch this. At this point, she was pretty sure what Shawn was so scared of, but she also really wished she was wrong.

She was also taken aback at how much Shawn used to hate his father. Juliet looked over at Henry who was glancing surreptitiously at his dejected son and wondered why the relationship improved over the years. Was it because of Shawn's work with the police?

 **"Okay, okay. Fine you win. I got the information because...I'm a psychic"**

Wait a minute, Shawn was pushed into this? Juliet thought. If Carlton hadn't been so demanding maybe Shawn never would've lied in the first place.

Wait a minute! Her heart screamed at her. You don't know for sure that Shawn was lying yet.

Juliet watched Shawn make up his 'visions' and felt the bottom of her stomach drop out. This was her evidence. Shawn had been lying. He's not a psychic.

Shawn finally looked up from his shoes to look at her. She wasn't sure what her facial expression looked like, but it obviously wasn't good judging by Shawn's wince. "Jules-" He stared.

"Save it Shawn." She interrupted. Shawn flinched and looked back down again. "We'll talk about this later."

The video showed Shawn leaving the station and Juliet was confused, how did Shawn get into the consulting psychic gig if he wanted nothing to do with the police?

Her answer came in the form of a very pregnant Chief Karen Vick.

 **"What I need is a miracle, or a facsimile of one"**

So that was why Karen was jumpy, she was in on the secret too. Juliet thought. Has everyone in Santa Barbara been lying to her?

The video cut to Shawn making his way through some kind of office.

Juliet sighed. Of course Gus was in on it.

 **"Come on, left hand, space bar, right hand, arrow keys? Gus, you should ask me a challenging question every once in awhile, just for kicks."**

"Is it always like that?" Juliet asked before she could stop herself.

Shawn looked surprised at the question, or surprised she was talking to him.

"Pretty much, yeah." He answered.

"So if I asked you to close your eyes right now?" Juliet let the question hang.

"I could answer anything you asked." Shawn confirmed.

Juliet let that sink in as she watched Shawn cajole his friend into accompanying him on the kidnapping case.

 **"All right, you want to sweat the details? Fine. The cops think I'm a psychic and now we are investigating a kidnapping."**

Juliet's heart broke all over again hearing the truth from her boyfriend's lips. Was this entire thing a game for him? Was she a game to him?

Lassiter muttered angrily at Shawn's onscreen confession while Karen shot him a warning glance. Gus and Henry kept looking worriedly at Shawn, but the fake psychic refused to look up.

Juliet watched the video as it went through Shawn's investigation of the house, surprised at how intuitive he really was. Whatever Shawn's attitude towards being a police officer was, he'd make a great one.

 **"This stuff is really expensive. No additives, no preservatives. Why would you possibly open three bags simultaneously, when you only have one dog?"**

"Did you guys look through the trash?" Juliet asked her partner.

Lassiter gritted his teeth before admitting that they'd missed it.

 **"Gus, let's just be clear on one thing. The only way they can absolutely prove that I am not a psychic, is if I tell them. And I can guarantee you, that is the one thing I will never do."**

Juliet had to laugh at this comment or else she would start crying. It was clear to her now that she had been fooled completely by the man sitting next to her and that he had no intentions of ever coming clean. She rolled her eyes as Shawn got sidetracked from the investigation by the McCallum's daughter. How can he be so smart one second and so utterly stupid the next?

"We should have arrested you for hindering a police investigation." Lassiter growled.

"If I remember correctly Shawn was the one who led you to the right man." Gus defended his friend.

Onscreen Shawn just finished with the sketch artist, only to see that he had been copying off of a picture in the background.

Lassiter glared at Shawn while Henry admonished him, "Shawn, this is not what I taught you to do. I thought you were done with the childish games."

"Dad." Shawn interrupted. He finally looked up at everyone and sighed. "Look guys, this was years ago. I know I made mistakes and there are plenty other mistakes that we'll get to watch but they're all in the past. You can't keep badgering me over every single one of them."

"It's alright man." Gus clapped his hand over Shawn's shoulder, glad his friend had finally spoken.

"Just because this was in the past doesn't mean it wasn't irresponsible." Karen started. "However, I think we can all agree that your behavior during cases had improved over the years." Shawn nodded his head in thanks while Lassiter just rolled his eyes and turned back to the video. Shawn turned to his father who just shrugged in agreement before looking at Juliet. Juliet ignored him, watching as onscreen Shawn assured the McCallum family that the boyfriend wasn't the kidnapper. She hated how shattered Shawn's eyes looked, but she couldn't find it in herself to reassure him when she didn't think she could trust him anymore.

The video switched to Gus' apartment next morning, and the obvious signs that someone had broken in. Despite herself, Juliet was worried for her friend. Or was he still her friend? Could she handle being nice to the person who had knowingly kept Shawn's secret for so many years?

 **"I hate to imagine what the rest of your plan was"**

Juliet rolled her eyes as she was flooded with relief. As much as this betrayal had shocked and hurt her, she also knew that at the end of the day she still cared for Shawn and Gus.

 **"You're dying to know who kidnapped him, I know you are"**

 **"No, no, I'm not. Because I don't believe that you can solve a crime the cops can't by simply walking through a house"**

 **"Fine"**

 **"Fine. All right, whatever. Who kidnapped him?"**

 **"Nobody"**

 **"Nobody! Excellent! Call the Chief at home, tell her the crime is solved. Because apparently, we just imagined the whole thing"**

 **"Gus! Nobody kidnapped him, because he did it himself"**

"You actually solved the case by walking through the house?" Juliet asked, taking a moment for the gravity of the statement to sink in. As amazed as she used to be by Shawn's 'visions' she couldn't believe the way that he actually solved cases. To be able to draw conclusions and see patterns where no one else can was way more impressive than his fake psychic act.

Shawn rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well, I had a little help."

 **"Where did you get this?"**

 **"Katarina McCallum's room"**

Juliet's lips twitched into a smile. Of course Shawn took the opportunity to go on a date with Katarina. She supposed somewhere she should feel jealous that Shawn was interested in another girl, but logically she knew this was years ago. And technically before they had even met.

Juliet was resigning herself to calming down and watching these videos carefully, looking for clues for who Shawn Spencer really was. She realized that she had never really seen Shawn so open as he was onscreen, and she thought that it was because throughout the entire time she knew him he had been hiding a part of himself. Now she had a chance to get to know one hundred percent of Shawn, and she was actually curious what he was like without the psychic bravado.

On the video, Shawn and Gus were driving through the woods somewhere.

This must be when they discovered the bodies, Juliet thought, watching as they were pulled over.

 **"Just let me do the talking"**

"You used me to get out of your speeding tickets?" Henry yelled at Shawn.

"Ah, well. I don't do it anymore?" Shawn replied, leaning away from his father.

"Dude, you used his card to get out a ticket last week." Gus muttered to his friend.

"Gus shut up." Shawn whispered as Henry settled back into his seat, glaring at Shawn every once and awhile.

 **"Your dad's back at the house?"**

 **"Apparently"**

Juliet was still surprised at how awful the relationship between Shawn and his father used to be. Sure, they weren't father and son of the year or anything, but she knew that they loved each other. She hoped this video wouldn't tear the two apart. If word of Shawn's deception got out, both of them would be in huge trouble. They'd probably have to re-try all of Shawn's cases, he may even go to jail for it. Suddenly gripped with fear for Shawn, and simultaneously cursing him for lying in the first place, Juliet was resolved to not tell a soul the truth. She hated to lie, but she knew that Shawn did a lot of good with his 'powers' and the thought of all of the repercussions of the truth were too much for Juliet to even think about.

By this point in the video, Shawn and Gus had reached a cabin in the woods and Shawn had finished explaining why they were there.

 **"Oh, my gosh! I can't believe we did this! This is unbelievable!"**

Juliet smiled at the duo's excitement but prepared herself for when they found the bodies. She knew Gus wouldn't take it well, but she was curious what Shawn's reaction would be. Judging by the restless movement of the man sitting next to her, it wasn't good.

"Before we get to the next part, I just want to say something." Shawn began, sharing a look with Gus before continuing. "What I did was really stupid and I haven't done anything like that again. I didn't realize what could happen, and then it was too late. And then it was already done, and it happened so fast -"

"Will you just shut up and let the video play?" Lassiter interrupted, ignoring Karen's censured look.

"What Shawn is trying to say," Gus said. "Is that we were both wrong for what we did."

Juliet stared worriedly at Shawn. She hadn't seen him so worried since his mom was taken by Yin. Even exposing his secret hadn't been as bad. What could he have done that was worse?

 **"Gus, Gus!"**

 **"What?"**

 **"We don't call anyone."**

 **"What?"**

 **"Then later, at headquarters, I suddenly and miraculously have a vision."**

The room erupted in angry shouts.

"Shawn, that was completely irresponsible-"

"How _dare you_ interfere with a police investigation like that-"

"Not what I hired you to do-"

"I can't believe you were so childish-"

"I ought to arrest you right now-"

Juliet stood up from her chair, whirling around to look at everyone and cried, "Stop it!" Waiting for everyone to quiet down, she looked at Shawn who had done nothing to defend himself from the heated allegations. "Look, I might not know what's going on-"

"What going on is that Spencer is completely ruining out police work and this clearly shows that he should be arrested immediately-"

"Carlton stop." Juliet glared at her partner. "We all agreed that we can't blame Shawn for what he's already done. Obviously he feels bad for what he did and he said that he learned from his mistake and moved on. We all need to move on too, this happened years ago."

Satisfied that no one would start yelling again, Juliet sat back down.

"Thank you," Shawn quietly said as the video started back up.

"What happened that was so bad?" Juliet asked. Onscreen, Shawn and Gus were talking to Carlton, who rebuffed them and went to eat lunch.

Shawn wilted in his seat, too busy in his guilt that he didn't even tease Carlton about the chicken. "You'll see-" He started to say, but Juliet stopped him.

"Yes, I'll see. But I think I deserve to hear your explanation for it."

Shawn stared at her for a moment before complying, explaining what happened as it played out on the screen in front of her.

"We went back to the cabin with Lassie and found the dog playing outside again. They called in SWAT and Gus and I were all prepared to be surprised to find the two of them."

 **"I can't believe they won't let us in. This is lame."**

 **"And you were so polite when you asked the SWAT team to issue you the Luger."**

 **"Just make sure you act in awe of me when they come to say I was completely right. OH, and maybe a little afraid, like my powers could possibly be used for evil."**

Shawn stopped and looked up at the screen as they entered the cabin and sighed heavily. "I thought it was going to be great, you know? Like I solved the case, let's go back and get my paycheck and eat some pineapple. But they were dead when we got there. I realized there was a good chance that they had been alive when we had been there earlier, if we had called the Chief immediately they might still be alive."

Juliet gasped as the screen panned to the two dead bodies. "Oh, Shawn." She watched as Shawn surveyed the crime scene, taking special note of details around the cabin.

"I know, I know. It was stupid." Shawn looked down as Gus ran out of the cabin screaming.

Juliet bit back her own emotions as she reached a hand over and grasped Shawn's. "Yes, it was incredibly stupid. But you didn't know they were going to be murdered."

Shawn's lips curved into a small smile and squeezed her hand. "Thanks Jules."

 **"The department has been approved to call on you again, Mr. Spencer. And even though this case didn't end up exactly the way we'd hoped…"**

Juliet watched the Chief give Shawn a check and felt torn. On one hand, she wanted to be furious that Shawn was making money off of conning the entire police department. On the other hand, Shawn's insights did help them find the cabin, something that she wasn't sure they would have been able to do without him.

Lassiter sneered at the screen. "You know that's practically blood money Spencer."

Shawn ducked his head and Juliet glared at Carlton. "Stop it, we all agreed we wouldn't be blaming anyone for that."

Carlton looked at her in surprise. "So what, you're on his team now? You realize he'd been lying to everyone ever since he started this charade. Just because you love-"

"Carlton!" Juliet yelled at him.

He stopped and looked down at his hands. "I'm sorry O'Hara," he said sheepishly, realizing he had gone over the line.

Juliet shook her head. "I'm not on anyone's side. I'm just watching the videos and seeing what happens."

"But he's been lying-"

"Yes, he's been lying. But did you really give him a choice?" She pointed at Carlton. "You were going to arrest him without any evidence even though he had an alibi." She looked at Karen. "And you pressured him into investigating the case even though you suspected he was lying, and then told him that you would arrest him if he was lying. I'm not excusing him for what he did, I'm just saying that neither of you gave him many options." Both of them looked abashed at their actions.

"Jules, I-"

Juliet turned to Shawn. "And you should have told me."

"I know." Shawn nodded.

Realizing she'd been talking through at least five minutes of the video, she got up and rewound the video to the beginning of the Chief's meeting with Shawn and Gus. When she got back to her seat, Shawn held out his hand to her but she didn't take it. Even though Juliet could say that she now understood why Shawn kept his secret, she couldn't fully trust him yet. Part of her wondered if she would ever be able to trust him again.

"Look Shawn, we'll talk more about this later, okay?"

Shawn nodded quickly and took back his hand, more relaxed now than he had been since they started watching the video.

 **"Thank you."**

 **"You're making a huge mistake. This case isn't closed."**

 **"Pardon me?"**

 **"Murder, suicide? Come one, you're buying that?"**

Juliet felt even more reaffirmed in her belief that Shawn was using his skills to help people. He could have just taken the money and run, instead he stuck around to make sure they found the murderer.

" **What are you doing? That was the Chief of Police."**

 **"Interim Chief. And have you considered that Camden McCallum may have been alive the first time we went to that cabin?"**

 **"No."**

 **"Well, I have!"**

The atmosphere in the room tensed slightly, but no one said anything. Juliet sighed in relief as the video continued without any further comments.

 **"What's with his wrist?"**

 **"You don't give up, do you?"**

 **"I do give up, all the time. But not until the moment is right. Now, come on, I know you don't think this adds up, either."**

 **"Okay, rumor is, he tried to off himself."**

 **"Off himself? The war hero? The man who's seen everything? No, that's not it. That's definitely not it."**

 **"You know everything don't you?"**

 **"Yeah. It's scary, isn't it? Look, something is going on, and I'm gonna find out what it is."**

"Can you make those kinds of judgements about anyone?" Juliet asked.

Shawn thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Pretty much, yeah. It's automatic for me."

"So when we first met and you were saying all of that stuff about me?" Juliet challenged.

Shawn grinned guiltily. "There were certain things that you had on you, and then I just made deductions about them."

"Like what?"

"It's hard to explain," Shawn replied. "Maybe the video will show it?"

"Pipe down, I can't hear anything." Lassiter complained.

"You're not off of the hook." Juliet warned before looking back at the video. Shawn raised his arms in surrender before doing the same.

Juliet watched as Shawn reunited his father, wincing at the underlying hostility between the two.

 **"When I was in the department there were two things I hated in this world. Private investigators and psychics. Congratulations kid. You just hit the disappointment exacta."**

 **"Thank you, thank you very much. It sort of happened by accident."**

 **"What are you gonna do when you get caught? Move out of town?"**

 **"I'm not gonna get caught."**

 **"Shawn this is just like everything else. Three months from now, you're gonna be on a bus going to Minneapolis 'cause you found your calling as a weatherman."**

 **"It's not like that this time. Have you been listening to me? I finally figured out a way to use my special gift. You should be thrilled! You're the one that made me this way. I'm good at this."**

"What do you mean Henry made you this way?" Karen asked.

Shawn looked over at his father before answering. "Well you saw what happened at the beginning of this," Waiting for Karen to nod, he continued. "Dad was always teaching me about police work since I was little, especially making sure I was observant. He kept at it long enough that I just do it automatically now. Of course, he didn't know about the whole psychic thing until after I did it, and he never really approved of it. Gus didn't either, of course."

Juliet wondered why he was defending his father and best friend so much when it hit her. If this secret got out, Shawn wanted to make sure his loved ones wouldn't take the fall with him. He was trying to make it clear to the Chief that his lies were his alone. Judging by the piercing glance Karen gave him, she understood what he was trying to do. It hadn't occurred to her before, but the Chief could just press charges on Shawn at any time. Or, when the video was done, Carlton could arrest him. She just had to hope that there was something in these videos that would dissuade them from taking legal action against Shawn. Maybe she should try talking to them?

The video continued as Shawn talked Henry through the case, and Juliet realized that even though their relationship wasn't great, Shawn still went to his father for help. This could have been the start of them rebuilding their relationship.

 **"Close your eyes."**

 **"No way, I'm not seven."**

 **"Close your eyes. Any longer, I'll think you're cheating."**

Juliet leaned forward in her seat, excited to see if Shawn's trick was just as impressive a second time. She wasn't disappointed, it was even better. She couldn't believe Shawn could remember all of that at any given time.

 **"All right. Close enough."**

 **"Close enough? No, I nailed that."**

 **"Yeah, but you changed the rules. But, hey, if it makes you happy."**

"I still maintain that I nailed it." Shawn stated, looking at his father as if he was daring him to contradict him.

Henry just rolled his eyed. "Whatever, Shawn."

"C'mon son!" Shawn fistbumped Gus.

Juliet rolled her eyes at Shawn's antics, but was glad that he was finally starting to act like himself again. She watched as the scene changed to Shawn and Gus watching Katarina McCallum.

 **"Oh, no. Is it just me, or does that bag look like it's filled with stacks of ransom money?"**

"How can you even tell from that far away?" Juliet asked.

Shawn just shrugged absentmindedly. Juliet couldn't understand why he was so open about his fake psychic skills and so close-lipped about his real deduction skills. She was trying really hard not to laugh as Shawn accused Katarina, glad that she could see that sometimes Shawn was wrong too. It seemed that for as much as he teased Carlton when he chased the wrong leads, Shawn did his fair share of falsely accusing. This was something that her partner was enjoying immensely, going by the superior smirk he was throwing Shawn's way.

She just couldn't help herself when the pair stole the bag though, giggling helplessly in her seat.

"You think this is funny?" Shawn asked, mock hurt seeping into his voice.

Juliet just shrugged as she continued laughing while Shawn jumped into the front seat, his legs dangling out of the car as Gus drove away. "Do all of your investigations go like this?" She asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Gus sighed. "Man, this is going to be so embarrassing." He muttered to Shawn. Shawn grimaced as he nodded, and Juliet looked forward to the various blunders the two would go through as the video continues to play.

 **"Give me some money."**

 **"Get your own money."**

 **"Gus, I'll give it back."**

 **"Seriously, this is all you carry? Okay, so, we've got five stacks going across…and you figure four going longways. Ten stacks in each pile, based on the wear and the indentation. I don't know, depending on the denomination, this could easily be $5 million."**

"That is impressive, Mr. Spencer." Karen said, giving Shawn a calculating glance. "When this is over, we're having a talk about what happens after all of this."

Shawn nodded hesitantly.

 **"I don't know. We're gonna need more than my psychic powers to figure this out."**

Juliet didn't know if she should be surprised or not that Shawn went to Carlton's old partner for help. Shawn always had a knack for making friends, and a talent for getting people to do what he wanted. She guessed since he was so observant it made him attuned to people's body language, helping him relate to people quicker. She wondered if she would be able to start picking up on those kinds of things if she practiced enough.

She watched as Shawn accompanied Lucinda to the shooting range and read through the police files as Lucinda practised her shooting. Juliet couldn't see why it was important that the store owner had seen Orso, but she could trust that if Shawn brought it up it was an important point.

 **"You'll need a new target sheet."**

 **"Oh, no, no, this is…This is fine. Wow. They're so much lighter when they're filled with water."**

"I can't believe she let you anywhere near a gun." Lassiter scoffed.

"Hey, I've handled plenty of guns." Shawn defended. "Granted, most were water guns."

Lassiter just rolled his eyes and watched the video as Shawn fired off his six rounds in seconds.

 **"You missed."**

 **"Did I really?"**

Lassiter gave Shawn a superior look, who shrugged and said, "Wait for it."

The video zoomed in on the target sheet as it was brought forward and Juliet felt her jaw drop.

 **"Look at that. It's a perfect match."**

"I didn't know you could shoot like that." Juliet breathed, looking at Shawn in amazement.

Shawn just grinned at her.

"But how?" Lassiter asked, looking like a lost puppy. Shawn shot Lassiter such a cocky grin that Juliet almost smacked him.

The video changed to Shawn and Gus at the McCallum's mansion.

"Shawn, you didn't actually go there, did you?" Juliet groaned.

Shawn gave her a sheepish look in reply.

"How many times did you just run off and do things when you should have waited for backup?" She asked, almost not wanting to know the answer.

"Ahh," Shawn grimaced, thinking over his answer.

"Almost always." Gus answered, glaring at Shawn. "In fact, I think every investigation we've been on we've almost been killed."

"Shawn, you need to be careful." Juliet said. Even though she was still angry at him, she didn't think she could just sit back and watch as he dove in headfirst into dangerous situations.

 **"What if they got the wrong man?"**

 **"And who would the right man be?"**

 **"You."**

"Starting with not accusing people to their faces!" Juliet admonished. Shawn wouldn't look her in the eye, giving her a sinking feeling. "Shawn, please tell me you don't always confront who did it by yourself and then accuse them to make them angry."

"Well, I don't really accuse them to make them angry, I accuse them because they did it-" Shawn trailed off as Juliet shot him a look that was Very. Not. Amused.

"We're adding this behavior to our talk later." She warned. She watched as Shawn went through his entire accusation of Mr. McCallum, shocked as the video added in flashbacks of the murder as Shawn spoke, looking like Shawn was actually having visions. Just by looking at Mr. McCallum's face as Shawn spoke Juliet knew that Shawn was right. She was amazed that Shawn could solve a case with virtually no assistance, only using his wits and charm.

She watched as Gus came back and talked Shawn into leaving before revealing the final nail in the coffin.

 **"Consumine."**

 **"What?"**

 **"Consumine. It's for dog bites. I have some samples."**

 **"Gus, what are you saying to me?"**

 **"I'm saying there was a bottle of it in the medicine cabinet, prescribed Wednesday. You wonder why he had on that long-sleeved shirt in the heat that first day?"**

 **"Oh, my gosh! That dog did have blood on its teeth."**

There were so many little things in this case that the detectives missed, yet Shawn was able to pick up. Juliet was starting to think that Shawn's gifts were amazing, but they would be nothing without the man that looked at things just a little bit differently than everyone else.

"Gus coming in with the final clue!" Shawn fistbumped his friend in celebration of their first case solved.

"You know that's right." Gus responded.

 **"What are you doing?"**

 **"I'm thinking."**

 **"You look ridiculous."**

"So the whole psychic finger thing just helps you concentrate?" Juliet asked.

"Yeah," Shawn nodded. "I've always done it."

"And you've always looked ridiculous doing it." Henry added.

 **"Now, what are you doing?"**

 **"Calling the cops."**

 **"You heard the guy in there. They're never gonna come."**

 **"I'm not calling the cops on him, I'm calling the cops on us. Gus, we need this to play out in front of an audience, with all the major players in place."**

"I can't believe you called the cops on yourself." Juliet shook her head.

"It was actually pretty smart, and probably the only way you actually solved the case." Karen said.

The video showed the cops driving into the McCallum residence, and then Mr. McCallum and the Chief walking out, followed by a handcuffed Shawn and Gus.

"Carlton," Juliet sent a disapproving glare at her partner when he slammed Shawn's head into the roof of the car.

"Yeah, yeah." Lassiter dismissed, obviously feeling no remorse for his actions.

Juliet sighed and made a mental note to talk to Carlton later and watched as Shawn started to have his 'vision'. She was hard pressed to not start laughing as it continued, Lassiter carrying Shawn to the cop car was almost as funny as Shawn and Gus' robbery attempt earlier.

 **"No one is checking any part of me!"**

 **"Why not?"**

 **"Huh?"**

 **"We could close this out immediately, discredit him right here. That's an awful wound you have bandaged there."**

Juliet turned to the Chief, who just shrugged and said, "I had my own suspicions, I just didn't have any proof."

Juliet laughed and watched as they arrested Mr. McCallum and freed Gus and Shawn.

 **"Seriously, how?"**

 **"I wish I knew."**

Lassiter snorted and answered his onscreen self, "By shoddy police work and an overwhelming amount of luck. That's how."

"That wasn't shoddy." Shawn defended. "You're just jealous."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Spencer." Lassiter responded.

 **"Do you think this pretty much ruins my chances with Katarina?"**

"Really Shawn?" Juliet asked, mirroring Gus' onscreen annoyance. She continued to watch the video as it showed Shawn coming back to the station, bursting into Karen's office with his usual disregard of rules. She was surprised that Karen had called Henry in, guessing that she might have had some questions about Shawn. She was curious if Henry would actually lie to save Shawn, their relationship had been so deteriorated at the time she didn't know if he would put himself out on a limb or not.

 **"You said you've had this ability your whole life."**

 **"Well, whole life…I mean, it's a bit of a gray area."**

 **"He said you didn't get it until you were 18."**

Juliet smiled at the fact that Henry still cared enough about Shawn to help him until she saw Shawn place his head in his hands, defeated. She thought over why he would feel this way and then realized that this was proof that Henry had knowingly lied to the police. Shawn had been trying so hard to make sure that his best friend and father wouldn't face legal charges and now that decision was being taken out of his hands. Juliet was now more determined to speak with the Chief before this was over.

 **"There's a check in the cage. Sign for it, and then come back in."**

 **"Come…come back in here?"**

 **"Mmm-hmm."**

 **"Why?"**

"So you really didn't ask for all of this." Juliet observed.

"Ah, no. Not really." Shawn confirmed.

Juliet's head spun with all of the information she had learned in the last hour. She had felt so betrayed at the beginning, and then as the video continued she was confronted with so many reasons why this happened that she couldn't be furious anymore. None of this excused the fact that Shawn had continuously lied to her for years, however, and Juliet was dreading the conversation she would have to have with Shawn.

 **"Be aware. This is the last time I cover for you, pal. I'm not okay with this, Shawn, any of it."**

Juliet smiled along with Shawn as the video zoomed in on the newspaper in Henry's truck. She was glad that Shawn's work with the police helped to repair his relationship with his dad.

Henry shifted in his seat, embarrassed at his moment of sentimentality. Thankfully Shawn didn't make any comments to make the situation even more uncomfortable for Henry.

 **"You named your fake detective agency Psych? Why don't you just call it "Hey, we're fooling you and the police department. Hope we don't make a mistake and someone dies because of it."**

 **"First of all, Gus, that name is entirely too long, it would never fit on the window. And secondly, the best way to convince people you're not lying to them, is to tell them you are!"**

"I can't decide if that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard-" Lassiter trailed off.

"Or the smartest?" Shawn interrupted. A cocky smirk on his face. "Definitely the smartest, thank you for noticing Lassie."

Lassiter groaned and glared at Shawn. "Don't get ahead of yourself Spencer."

Juliet rolled her eyes at Shawn's way of 'working out every last detail, while feeling bad at his strong arming Gus into the whole thing.

 **"You got another case already?"**

 **"A car thief got poisoned by his boss. He used something over the counter. Fizadine. No, Fizaderbal. No…uh…"**

 **"Fizadrine?"**

 **"That's it!"**

 **"Wow. How'd he do that?"**

 **"I'll tell you on the way."**

"You knew from just looking at the file?" Juliet asked.

"I don't remember specifically." Shawn shrugged. "But I have solved cases just by looking at the file."

"Oh, no." Lassiter contradicted. "I can stomach the weird hyper-detail-noticing thing but I draw the line at solving a case by looking at a file."

"Shawn's done it a few times, one will probably pop up on the video sometime." Gus said.

 **"Just for today, right?"**

 **"Absolutely."**

Almost everyone laughed at the two lines. 'Just for today' had turned into years, and now the pair were a staple to the department.

The words "Thirty minute break" scrolled across the screen before a timer popped up and started counting down. Juliet took a deep breath and looked around the room. She had thirty minutes to try to speak with Chief Vick about what would happen after the video was done, persuade Carlton to not arrest anyone, and talk to Shawn about everything that happened in the the last hour. Figuring she should start sooner rather than later, and secretly trying to run out of time before she could talk to Shawn, Juliet stood up and started walking towards the Chief.

 **A/N**

 **Again, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!**

 **For Juliet's reaction, I feel like she is a mostly level-headed character and she doesn't really hold a grudge, in the show it only took a couple of episodes for her to forgive Shawn. I also think that being presented with his secret in this way gives her all of the facts and would help her to understand the situation better. She's still mad at Shawn for continuing to lie to her, but not necessarily mad at him for lying in the first place. For everyone else, I tried to keep everyone commenting so no one disappeared. Obviously, Gus and Henry already knew the secret and Karen at least guessed at it. For Lassiter's reaction I tried to have a balance between him bring furious and begrudgingly admiring Shawn's skills. By the sixth season I think that Lassiter respects Shawn, but not enough to warrant a similar reaction to the one he had in the show's finale (Which I absolutely loved).**

 **Review and tell me what you liked or didn't like.**

 **Up Next: Spellingg Bee, and the thirty minute break.**


	3. Intermission

**A/N**

 **So, I got excited and wrote this pretty fast and decided to post it as its own chapter. I wanted to have Juliet's full reaction up and this chapter was also more of a somber tone while for Spellingg Bee I wanted a lighter tone.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Psych. All characters and show story lines are not mine.**

As soon as Juliet stood up, everyone followed suit.

"I think everyone should take this time to go walk around and get something to eat. We're not sure how long this video will be, but I think we all agree that we should watch it to the end." Karen announced. "However, I will give clear instructions to you all that nothing from this video, and I mean _absolutely nothing_ leaves this room." With one last pointed look at Lassiter, she started to walk out of the room.

"Hey Shawn, do you think we have time to get jerk chicken?" Gus asked.

Shawn shook his head. "Not right now buddy, I have something else I need to do first." He locked eyes with Juliet and started walking towards her while Gus and Henry left the room.

Panicked at having _that_ conversation right now, Juliet turned and called out, "Chief wait, I had something that I wanted-"

"O'Hara, I have something in my office that needs to get done, we can talk later." Karen replied and slipped out of the door, Lassiter following her. Juliet mentally huffed. Traitors.

Juliet shifted in place, feeling claustrophobic in the silence, yet unwilling to break it. Shawn walked over to stand in front of her, and Juliet ducked her head. She felt pathetic that she couldn't even look at Shawn. It was easy for her to forget her feelings of anger and betrayal with the distraction of everyone else and watching the video but now it was just her and Shawn. The vulnerability of the moment made her feel raw and exposed, and all she wanted to do right now was run and hide.

"Look Shawn, I don't know if this is the best time-"

"Juliet."

Hearing her full name come out of Shawn's mouth was surprising enough that out of reflex she looked up, and then she couldn't look away from the sincerity in his eyes.

"I know that I shouldn't have lied, and I think you saw that I didn't want to at first. You have every right to be angry with me, but just hear me out, okay?"

Juliet had no choice but to nod.

Shawn sighed and licked his lips before continuing. "I've done so many things wrong in my life, and I've quit so many times, and I've been on the move since I was eighteen. But then I fell into this job and I felt like I knew what I was supposed to be doing with my life for the first time. And I met you, and it just got better." He broke off with a frustrated sigh and looked down. "When we started dating I knew this was going to come up but I just couldn't tell you the truth. You were one of the few things in my life that I hadn't screwed up and I couldn't face the fact that I had already messed it up before we got started." He looked back into her eyes. "I'm sorry, Juliet."

Juliet had to swallow down her tears. She had never heard Shawn be so honest about his feelings and she knew deep down that she had already forgiven him. "Shawn, I forgive you." She said. "But I don't think I can trust you. I always believed in the psychic thing, and I defended you against other people and now I find out that it's been a lie the whole time. I can't tell when you're lying and when you're telling the truth. I don't know what else you've lied about." As she spoke, a few tears spilled down her face. She couldn't bring herself to say that she was worried that he lied about loving her and that she was questioning everything about their relationship.

"Jules, I never-"

"Shawn, I just can't take anything you say at face value right now." She cut him off. "I think what I need right now is just some space to think."

"Then how do I make this right?" He asked.

Juliet looked down and shrugged. "I don't know."

Shawn looked disheartened at her answer and took a few steps away from her, staring mindlessly into space. "The video!" He exclaimed.

"What?"

"The video." He rushed to explain, moving back in front of her and taking her hands in his excitement. "Everything on the video is completely true, right?" Juliet nodded. "So if we continue watching, you'll see that I haven't been lying to you. Except for the psychic thing."

Juliet thought about it. While watching the first part of the video, she had decided to not make any rash decisions until she'd seen everything. She realized it was easier said than done, but the least she could do was try. "Okay, I won't make any judgements until the video is done." She promised. "But I still need some space Shawn."

Shawn's enthusiasm died a little bit but he nodded in acceptance. He turned to leave the room and Juliet called out, "I'm going to talk to the Chief and Carlton to try and make sure they don't arrest you." Shawn turned to her in surprise and she felt a blush start to creep onto her face. "Even though you lied about what you did, you helped people and you solved cases that seemed impossible. I still think what you do is amazing and you should be able to keep doing your job."

Shawn smiled. "Thanks Jules." He left the room and Juliet plopped back into her chair, exhausted. She hoped the rest of the video wouldn't be as emotionally taxing, but thinking back on some of the cases she wasn't sure. Did it have the Yin and Yang cases? The one where Shawn got shot and kidnapped? Would it have when they first met?

Juliet was startled out of her reverie when an automated voice announced, "Five minutes." She looked at the screen and left the room to gather everyone up to start watching the rest of the video.

Lassiter was sitting at his desk, glaring at nothing and completely ignoring his paperwork. Juliet told him there was only a few minutes left until the video started up again and turned to go to the Chief's office.

She knocked on the door, waiting for the Chief to say, "Come in." before entering.

"Hello O'Hara, what did you want to talk about?" Karen asked, looking up from her computer.

"I came to tell you that it's time to go back to the video room." Juliet said. "But I also wanted to talk to you about Shawn."

Karen motioned for her to sit down, so she did before continuing. "I know that he lied, repeatedly, but I don't think that you should arrest him, or Gus or Henry."

Karen's eyebrows raised. "I admit, that's not exactly what I thought you'd say."

Juliet looked down and admitted, "Me neither. I just think that what he does is important and it helps us find who's guilty. I'm angry that he lied, and I think he should be punished somehow but if we do it formally then we'll have to re-try his cases and they might all go to jail." She looked up to see Karen staring at her intently.

"I'll take what you've said into consideration." She responded. "I've already gotten Carlton and Henry's opinions, and I'm sure I'll be getting the others' opinions as well. I've decided to not take any action until we've seen the entirety of the video."

A knock sounded at the door, and the two women look to see Henry pop his head in the room. "You have about a minute until the video starts up again." He warned before shutting the door.

Karen stood up from her chair and asked, "Are you ready for the next one?"

Juliet took a deep breath. "Yeah, I think so."

 **A/N**

 **I hope you enjoyed Juliet's full reaction! And a more serious side of Shawn for this chapter.**

 **I purposefully made Juliet a bit too happy last chapter to show that she wasn't really confronting her feelings, but in her conversation with Shawn she was forced to. I will be having more of these types of drawn out conversations between characters, I've already been planning a Juliet/Lassiter and Shawn/Lassiter one but they won't be for a few episodes.**

 **Review and tell me what you liked or didn't like.**

 **Up Next: Spellingg Bee**


	4. Spellingg Bee

**A/N**

 **Sorry for the longer wait for this chapter, I had a little bit of writer's block and then I had a couple of things going on that have kept me busy. I also decided that this chapter was a little short, so I included a small clip from Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Piece.**

 **Thank you to everyone that has followed and reviewed this story! I hope you continue to enjoy the story.**

 **Still Juliet's POV.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Psych. All characters, show story lines, and quotes in bold are not mine.**

As Juliet and the Chief walked back into the video room, they were assaulted with the smell of spicy chicken.

"Jules, it's a miracle!" Shawn exclaimed, holding up a container full of chicken. "Gus ran and got us all jerk chicken."

Juliet resumed her seat next to Shawn and thanked Gus as she was given her own container of chicken. Even Carlton had accepted his chicken, and was currently tearing through his pieces with gusto.

The screen was down to ten seconds, and Juliet was equally excited and nervous for what they were about to watch. The last part almost tore apart her relationship with Shawn, what would this part do?

The screen came to life as Shawn grabbed a newspaper before turning and entering a diner. Juliet felt her breath catch as she realized this was when she had met Shawn. She looked to her right to see that Shawn was looking at her, also aware of exactly what the video was showing. They both smiled and looked back at the screen as they were first introduced, starting with the mixup over Shawn's seat. As weird as it was for Juliet to watch a younger Shawn on the video, it was even more weird to watch the younger version of herself.

"Well at least this one doesn't have an embarrassing childhood clip, eh dad?" Shawn asked, still chomping on his chicken.

"Yeah, yeah." Henry dismissed his son, staring at the screen. Juliet realized that Henry really didn't get to see much of Shawn's actual work in the field. It must be interesting for him to get to see Shawn in action, using all of the lessons Henry taught him.

She was also really curious what clues Shawn picked up on to guess everything about her. As the video zoomed in on her bag, sleeve, shoe, and the picture of her parents, Juliet was stumped. He could make all of those deductions off of those four items?

"Man, you're lucky you didn't get pepper sprayed. You sound like a stalker." Gus laughed at his friend.

Juliet watched as they arrested the guy, embarrassed at how much of a novice she was. She never really thought about how much they've all changed in the last few years, but this video showed their differences starkly. She laughed as Carlton pretended to not know Shawn and left the diner as soon as he could with a deer in the headlights look.

The screen turned black and then showed a stage with a young boy, the words '1989' at the bottom.

 **"Thirty seconds, Mr. Guster."**

"I still haven't forgiven you for this." Gus said as onscreen his younger version struggled to spell 'aggiornamento'.

"Dude, we went over this. If you had won your social life would've been over." Shawn countered as his younger version told Gus to say 'O'. "Poof. Done."

Gus finally took his friend's advice and said 'O', getting eliminated from the spelling bee.

"So you knew that 'O' was the wrong letter and you still gave it to him?" Juliet asked.

"Of course!" Shawn responded. "Gus would've forever gone down in history as the winner of the spelling bee and you know what happens to the winners of the spelling be?"

"I don't know, I can't think of any winners of the spelling bee." Juliet answered.

"Exactly." Shawn said, as if Juliet had made his point for him. Juliet knew that Shawn was fiercely protective of his friend, often to a point that no one really understood. Apparently this also extended to ruining his friend's hard work to make sure he didn't fall into obscurity.

The video switched to the older Gus watching the American Spelling Bee, only to switch it off as Shawn walked in. Juliet shook her head as Shawn made fun of Gus watching the spelling bee until he saw a clip of Brendan Vu collapse onstage.

 **"Wait a second. Did you see that? This is no accident. There's something wrong with that inhaler."**

Once again Juliet was amazed at Shawn's ability to pick up the smallest of clues. The police didn't know something was wrong with the inhaler until they spoke with Brendan and realized it was missing, but Shawn could see that it was tampered with from a clip on TV.

 **"Shawn, get out of here."**

"Why didn't you believe him?" Juliet asked. "Earlier, you believed him when he told you what happened in the case but you don't believe him on this?"

"Yeah, Gus. Where's the brotherly love?" Shawn tacked on, grinning at his friend. "If you can't take my word for it, I might need to get another assistant."

"Shawn, I learned to not take your word for it at the Mexican border." Gus defended, waving a mostly clean chicken bone in their direction. "Twice."

"So you thought he was joking?" Juliet broke in before they could start getting into it.

"Wouldn't surprise me, Spencer's one big joke after another." Lassiter grimaced at the bits of chicken now flying in the air as the two friends started a poking war.

"Carlton." Juliet admonished before turning and ending the poke war before any pieces of chicken landed on her. She watched as Shawn was officially brought onto the case and they arrived at the spelling bee.

 **"In two days, this whole thing is over. At that time, all the witnesses will be in 100 different cities all over the western United States. So, it's now or never. Good luck."**

"Are you ever worried you won't be able to solve the case?" Juliet asked.

Shawn shrugged. "I've solved all of my cases, so not really." He had finished his portion of jerk chicken, and was trying to stealthily take some of Gus'. Gus, however, caught on to what Shawn was doing and defended his chicken from being stolen.

"Yeah, but I mean this case was pretty high pressure. If you hadn't solved it in two days they would've gotten away with it. Doesn't that get to be a lot to handle sometimes?"

"Ow! Gus, did you just bite me?" Shawn shook his hand and leaned away from his friend.

"Shawn, this is my chicken. I bought this chicken for me, I can't help it if you finished yours first." Gus said, huddled protectively around his chicken container.

"That hurts Gus, right here." Shawn pointed to his heart and looked sadly at his friend.

Gus just laughed. "Shawn, that bit hasn't worked on me in years."

Shawn pouted, and Juliet took pity on him, giving him the rest of her chicken. He grinned at her and dove in.

"Shawn, you didn't answer my question." Juliet reminded him. Getting Shawn to focus on something is harder than corralling an entire litter of kittens.

His head popped up from the chicken container and he chewed while he thought of his answer. "Not really." He shrugged. "I mean, that's the whole point of the psychic detective thing. I'm called in when you guys are stumped, so it's usually the difficult cases, the high profile cases, or time sensitive cases."

Juliet's lips pursed as she thought over Shawn's answer. He always seemed so unflappable, and she didn't know if he was just hiding behind sarcasm and bravado.

Shawn's mockery of the spelling bee continued as he and Gus entered the event, watching a contestant struggle with her word. He didn't even bother to show a more professional attitude when questioning the contestants.

 **"Let me know how the therapy goes."**

"I can't believe you actually said that to them." Juliet said, surprised they didn't get complaints from the parents.

"This isn't exactly what I meant when I said to talk to every contestant, Mr. Spencer." Karen agreed, watching Shawn's interrogations with a critical eye.

"Oops?" Shawn offered as an apology. Juliet rolled her eyes and watched as Mr. Cavanaugh fell over the railing into the audience's seats.

 **"Not to belittle this guy's life, but this just got more interesting than the woodcarving finals."**

"That's just worse." Juliet groaned.

 **"Why would we cancel?"**

 **"Well, a body did just tumble into the crowd."**

 **"Didn't land on anybody."**

"Shawn, you and Carlton have the least sensitive reactions to death than I've ever seen." Juliet sighed.

"Perhaps we should send the both of you to a sensitivity class." Karen suggested, the barest hint of a smile on her face.

Shawn and Lassiter stared at the Chief with such horror on their faces that Juliet couldn't do anything except laugh.

"Chief, you can't be serious." Lassiter protested.

"And why not?" Karen challenged, a gleam in her eye.

"Because-you don't-I won't-" Lassiter stuttered, at a loss for words.

"Let's face it Chief," Shawn interrupted. "Last time you tried to send me off to learn something it didn't go great." Karen grimaced at the reminder of the police academy fiasco. "And if you send Lassie face, he'll probably disrupt the class so much he'll get kicked out anyway."

"On second thought, I think Mr. Spencer may be right on this one." Karen conceded, unwilling to unleash the terror of Shawn and Carlton on some poor, unsuspecting teacher.

Juliet shook her head as she watched Shawn pretend to be attacked by the ghost of Mr. Cavanaugh. "How did you know that would work?" She asked.

"Most people are at least a little superstitious," Shawn answered. "And even more people get freaked out if they think they might be in danger from something."

Shawn and Gus' investigation of the private box continues as they note everything that's obviously been disturbed in the space.

 **"I'm just thinking Lassiter's heart attack theory might not be so far off"**

"I'm sorry, can we rewind that last little bit again?" Lassiter asked, grinning like he won an award.

Shawn rolled his eyes. "Fine, I admit it. Sometimes you may be partially right about a few of the cases."

Lassiter looked just as satisfied as he would have after apprehending a criminal, and Juliet was reminded that underneath Carlton's tough demeanor he acted just as childish as Shawn at times.

As the video continued, Juliet was surprised at how much Gus actually contributed to finding clues. She knew he was intelligent, but she thought he stuck around mostly out of loyalty to Shawn, and also to reign in Shawn's personality. Now she was curious to see if Gus continued supplying insights to the cases.

"Do you always carry around sample bags with you?" Juliet asked. Shawn had never been the kind of person to remember to bring something with him, she wondered if it was different when he was investigating a case.

"Only when I get called in for a case," Shawn said, confirming Juliet's suspicions. "Sometimes I find things that I want checked out, and it's easier to just bag it than to make some kind of of vision about it so you guys can analyze it. Especially in the beginning when the most I'd get was an eyeroll from Lassie."

On the video, Lassiter had started his interview as Shawn and Gus made it back to the audience and watched.

 **"Shawn! They're gonna stop investigating!"**

 **"One last question, and then I really have to go wrap up this thing."**

 **"Do something!"**

"So Gus pushed you into that one." Juliet observed.

"Oh, yeah. Gus is just as impulsive as I am." Shawn grinned at his friend. Gus refused to fistbump Shawn but apparently didn't have a retort to Shawn's statement. "Gus, I mean it as a compliment!" Shawn whined until Gus lightly tapped his hand and then ignored Shawn.

 **"Maybe. I might have a connection."**

Juliet smiled as Shawn went back to his father for help. She was still glad that over the years they had mended their relationship.

"I thought you said you weren't helping Spencer Junior on cases." Lassiter accused as Shawn promised his dad a favor in exchange for getting the food tested.

Henry shrugged. "You gotta admit the kid's usually right."

 **"What do you want me to do?"**

 **"Finish it."**

"Oh, man." Shawn complained as the video cut to a flashback of the younger Shawn promising to make a doghouse. "Why does this part have so many parts from when I was a kid?"

"It is weird that it shows parts from when we were kids." Gus agreed. "They don't really have anything to do with the cases."

"It does have to do with your cases though," Juliet countered. "They give us a backstory for why you're doing the things you're doing."

"But why do you need to know about the doghouse?" Shawn whined as the video showed his sad attempt of constructing a doghouse.

"Okay, so maybe this one isn't as important." Juliet conceded, wincing as Henry harshly put down young Shawn's workmanship. "But the first one showed us how you do your deduction thing. And you said earlier that they show how your dad taught you the different skills of a police officer. Maybe the flashbacks are a way of showing how your dad taught you those skills."

"Yeah, I guess." Shawn grumbled as the video changed to him riding his motorcycle on some road at night. He winced as his onscreen self was driven off of the road.

"Shawn!" Juliet yelled. "You never told us you were almost killed."

"I told everyone at the end that they ran me off of the road." Shawn protested.

Juliet glared at him. "You barely slipped it in, and you didn't mention that you were seriously injured from it!"

"You should have notified me immediately." Karen admonished.

"And you should have called me!" Henry broke in.

"And all of you could have noticed." Gus defended his friend. "All of you saw him after the accident, he had a brace on his knee and he was limping the entire time but none of you said anything."

The room descended into silence as Juliet thought over this case and realized that Gus was right. She had heard Shawn's accusation that they ran him off of the road and she had noticed him limping, but never put two and two together and made sure Shawn was alright. She had let her amazement at the 'psychic' and Shawn's antics during his 'vision' distract her from what was right in front of her face.

"Technically, my dad did ask." Shawn commented.

"And Shawn refused to tell me any details." Henry grumbled.

The video showed Gus picking Shawn up from the hospital, trying to get him to call his dad but ultimately failing.

 **"He'd wanna know you're okay."**

 **"All he cares about are results just like those possessed spelling bee parents. You know what's wrong with this? All of this."**

Juliet grimaced as she watched Henry's face fall at his son's remark.

Shawn noticed his father's reaction as well, leaning over and saying, "Look, Dad, it's different now. Just because I thought this way years ago doesn't mean I think like that now. I've changed, and you've changed."

"Yeah, I know kid." Henry responded, his face losing its haunted look as the video changed to Shawn and Gus visiting Brendan in the hospital.

"Man, I'm never living that one down, am I?" Shawn asked as Gus once again complained about Shawn giving him the wrong letter.

"Never, Shawn." Gus glared. "I could've been a champion."

Shawn rolled his eyes. "Yeah, a champion of loser."

Gus clicked his tongue angrily and turned back to the video.  
 **"You're saying that inhaler…"**

 **"Is a fake."**

Juliet was impressed by the amount of work that Gus had done on this investigation, it was clear that he didn't just follow Shawn around on cases.

"You did all of that work on your own Mr. Guster?" Karen asked, also looking impressed.

"Yeah, well Shawn said there was something wrong with the inhaler so I just followed up with the connections I have through my work." Gus replied.

"Do you actually do anything at your other job?" Lassiter asked. "From what we've seen you just follow Spencer around like a lap dog."

Gus glared at him. "We have breaks between cases, and I'm not always there when Shawn is investigating. These videos just don't show me working at the office."

"And we'll thank whoever made this video for that." Shawn added. "No offence man, but your job is so boring."

"Shawn, just because you have the attention span of a two year old-"

"Will you two stop? We're missing Shawn actually finishing the doghouse." Henry complained. The two complied with Henry's wishes and the room was quiet again.

 **"I'm gonna help you."**

 **"You've never helped me before, ever."**

 **"You've never asked. Put a nail in here."**

Juliet smiled as the two Spencers finished the doghouse. They were both so stubborn it was equally frustrating and endearing. Generally speaking, it was more frustrating than endearing though.

 **"This is a derivative of methyl parathion. High-grade stuff. Whatever you're into, I want you to get out quick. I'm not kidding."**

Henry chuckled. "Guess I was a little late on that advice."

"Do you carry any weapons, Shawn?" Juliet asked.

"Um, no?" Shawn looked at her, confused.

"Then what do you do when you're in dangerous situations?"

Shawn shrugged. "Usually I can talk my way out of it, at least until you guys come along."

"But what if you can't just talk your way out of it?"

Shawn shifted in his seat, one hand brushing his left shoulder. Juliet remembered when Shawn was shot, and was determined to make sure nothing like that ever happened again. She looked over at the Chief, who caught her eye and nodded, agreeing that something needed to be done for Shawn and Gus' safety.

 **"And I did all of that for nothing?"**

 **"For nothing? Shawn, you've never completed a thing in your life. Now, you have."**

"So that was the lesson." Juliet said.

"And it only took you twenty years to learn, Shawn. Congratulations." Henry added.

Shawn rolled his eyes. "Thanks, dad."

"You're welcome, Shawn." Henry chuckled.

Onscreen, an angry Shawn stormed out of the house and the scene changed to a meeting in the Chief's office. Juliet's good mood plummeted as she remembered the way that they refused to believe Shawn's information when it was so obvious now that it was right. She wondered if Shawn hadn't been forced into the psychic thing if they would have taken him more seriously from the beginning. He was so much more credible when he went through the actual facts instead of blurting out random phrases from his 'visions'.

 **"What proof do you have?"**

 **"Only what I feel."**

"That would have been the time to tell me you got ran off of the road." Karen chastised.

Shawn shrugged in apology.

 **"Mr. Spencer, I asked you to check in about the inhaler incident. If you or your partner have anything about that, I'd be happy to hear about it. Otherwise…"**

Juliet sighed as Shawn and Gus left the police station and discussed how to break into the spelling bee, eventually stealing the new spellmaster's jacket and sneaking into the spellmaster's box. Juliet was suddenly very glad that Shawn had never leaned towards the criminal side out of spite for his father. She wasn't sure if they would've been able to catch him if he had.

She watched as Shawn noticed the almost imperceptible marks in the carpet, eventually realizing it was set up for a camera. Unfortunately, by that time the spelling bee had started and they were calling for a word for the next contestant.

"Shawn, tell me you weren't the idiot in the booth giving them ridiculously easy words." Juliet rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache coming on. She had showed up to the event early and had always wondered who had broken into the spellmaster's box just to read off of what sounded like a grocery list. She had assumed it was a prank, but now realized that it had to have been Shawn.

"Gus wouldn't give me a word!" Shawn defended himself.

Onscreen, Shawn tried to position the camera while someone started to call for security before Shawn stopped them and asked his friend for a word.

 **"Give me a word!"**

 **"A word?"**

 **"Yeah! Something hard, but something you can spell."**

 **"I can spell anything."**

 **"Except "aggiornamento". Give me one."**

"Can the two of you be any more childish?" Lassiter complained.

"Why yes, yes we can." Shawn grinned at him.

Juliet rolled her eyes as Shawn gave the word 'Banana'. "Shawn, why didn't you just use aggiornamento?"

Shawn opened his mouth with a retort and then closed it, looking at her sheepishly. "I didn't really think of it at the time."

Juliet watched as Shawn finally positioned the camera correctly, seeing that Mr. Cavanaugh was looking at the father of Jiri Prochazka. The two snuck out of the box and into the audience, watching Mr. Prochazka as Jiri got his next word.

 **"All of these words from that round were the winning words. They do that once in awhile, they make it a theme round. This one won the 1985 bee. This one from 1943."**

 **"Gus, what are you saying?"**

 **"Guess which kid got the winning word from 1953?"**

"Mr. Guster, you contributed a lot to this investigation." Karen said, looking at Gus appraisingly.

"It's only because I follow the bee so I knew things that Shawn didn't." Gus dismissed.

"Dude, stop giving the spelling bee nicknames." Shawn broke in.

"You keep giving Shawn that last final clues he needs to tie the case together." Juliet argued. "You did the same thing on the last part with the drug Mr. McCallum was taking. This case you helped Shawn figure out the food was poisoned, the inhaler was a fake, and what 1953 meant."

"Can we boost the sidekick's self esteem later?" Lassier complained. "We're going to miss my part."

The video showed Mr. Prochazka tapping a wire on his hand, transmitting signals to his son to tell him what letter to say next.

 **"I got him."**

 **"Let's call the chief."**

"Well, at least you did technically call us this time when you figured it out." Karen conceded as Shawn got up onstage before having a 'vision'.

 **"Can't he ever just tell us to arrest someone?"**

"Where's the fun in that?" Shawn asked, continuing to watch himself fake a vision. "You know, it's been awhile since I've put that much into one of my visions, maybe I should do that for my next one."

"No!" They all yelled at him. Shawn put his hands up in defeat, although the grin on his face gave Juliet a sinking feeling that Shawn just might do it anyway.

"What makes you think you're going to have another vision anyway." Lassiter glared at Shawn. "You lied to the police for years, and even you're smart enough to realize what happens when you do that."

Shawn's grin instantly disappeared, replaced with a stricken look before he leaned back in his seat and looked down just like he did when his secret was first revealed.

"Carlton-" Juliet warned.

"What, O'Hara?" He interrupted. "I'm telling the truth. Spencer lied and there's consequences for that, I've been saying this for years, it's hardly anything new."

"We'll all discuss this later in my office." Karen said.

"But Chief-"

"Later." The Chief insisted. A small ray of hope blossomed in Juliet's chest. It sounded to her like the Chief was trying to avoid sending Shawn to jail. Maybe they could figure out a solution together where Shawn could still help them with their cases.

Shawn continued the rest of his vision, finishing with his recount of being run off of the road.

Shawn gestured to the screen and looked at all of them. "See? I told you about being almost killed."

"Yes, you slipped it in at the end of your accusation and acted like it was no big deal." Juliet replied. "But we still should have checked on you after the case was done." These videos were really showing her every little thing that she had missed over these cases.

 **"You don't need it. I took your advice. I ran the Chinese food through the lab. Nothing's definite. I'm sorry. He just seemed sure. I took a shot."**

It was almost a sucker punch for her to look back and see how much she had trusted Shawn from the beginning, and to watch how much he had lied to her. She still had a hard time looking at him without wondering how many lies he's told her, or how many more he would have told her had they not gotten this video. She just wasn't sure what to think about Shawn anymore. He was so much more open and honest now than he ever was, but she was still hurt that he never told her the truth. If he couldn't be truthful with her, how could she believe him when he told her that he loved her?

Shaking her head, Juliet forcefully stopped her thoughts right there. She promised herself and Shawn that she wouldn't make any decisions until the end of the video, and she intended to keep that promise. She just hoped that as she watched she would gain more clarity, not more questions.

She watched as they took away Jiri's prize money and arrested him and his father. Onscreen, Shawn and Gus watched as they drove away, discussing Gus' stint in the spelling bee once again.

 **"You'd been the object of ridicule. I mean, this way, you got to be a smart kid and a cool kid. Best of both worlds."**

 **"That's true. I appreciate that, Shawn."**

 **""Yeah, it's a nice balance. That's why I had to give you the wrong letter."**

"Shawn, you should've been more careful on that leg." Juliet cautioned, although she was hard pressed to not laugh as Gus chased Shawn around. He was surprisingly quick for having a messed up leg.

Juliet gave up on holding back her laughter as Shawn left Henry with his neighbor's dog, though. Watching the man yelling at Shawn while waving around the puppy was probably the funniest thing the video had shown so far.

As the video went black, Juliet assumed it was over for the time being and started to get up to throw away her empty chicken container, but the video started up again with the younger Shawn walking through his house, looking for something.

Shawn groaned and sunk in his chair. "Why are there so many clips of me when I was younger?" He complained.

"Shawn, we went over this." Juliet sighed as she settled back into her chair.

 **"Hey, Shawn, what in the world do you think you're doing?"**

 **"Hide and seek."**

 **"I don't think so."**

Henry continued to teach Shawn how to properly tail a suspect, ignoring Shawn's protests.

"Were you always this-" Juliet paused as she tried to think of a nice way to put it. "Invested in teaching Shawn how to do things like a police officer?" Mentally giving herself a high five for coming up with a nice way to say 'critical of what Shawn did', she turned to Henry.

"What's the point of doing something if you're not going to do it right?" He responded.

Juliet let the conversation drop, feeling like she understood Shawn so much better by getting an insight to his childhood.

The video switched to an older Shawn using the same tactics his father taught him in order to sneak around the police station.

"Do you always make an effort to be a stalker, Spencer?" Lassiter glared at Shawn.

"Only when it's you Lassie." Shawn replied.

 **"Well, that's one approach. But, if I may suggest, I once wrote a paper regarding press releases and such and…Sorry, your idea sounds great."**

Juliet was unsettled at the reminder of how her relationship with her partner had started. While she had come to dearly love Carlton, in the beginning he was an overbearing force of 'my way or the highway'. Even Carlton was a little rattled to see how abrasive he used to be, judging by how much he was shifting in his seat. He turned to her and opened his mouth as if he was about to apologize, but Juliet just smiled at him and turned back to the screen. If they couldn't judge Shawn on his actions from back then, they weren't allowed to judge anyone for any of their actions on the video.

 **"We just got a case five minutes ago."**

 **"Yeah, a lame one. Stolen computers from a high school. Come on, like you weren't falling asleep during that meeting."**

Juliet ignored Shawn's childish antics as she watched him glean information from the brief view of the board from the stolen engagement ring case. At this point, she was almost used to the crazy amount of deductions Shawn could make from such a small amount of information, but she was still amazed.

She watched as Shawn attempted to get onto the case before being rebuffed by the Chief, who reminded him of the case he was already investigating. Shawn looked at the file for about five seconds before claiming the secretary did it.

"How?" Lassiter asked, his mouth dropped open in shock.

 **"It's in the papers."**

 **"Where?"**

 **"The signatures, it's in her handwriting. Look, she's faking her own signature, and later there's evidence that it's…"**

Onscreen, Gus realized that Shawn was blowing his cover and elbowed him, which caused Shawn to abandon the facts and pretend to have a feeling about the ink in the papers.

"Was it actually the secretary?" Juliet asked.

"Yes, it was." Karen confirmed.

Juliet joined Carlton in his slack jawed awe as she looked at Shawn. She had thought Gus' claims earlier about Shawn being able to solve a case just by looking at the file were a little exaggerated, but they clearly weren't. And he only looked at the file for a few seconds!

She was even more confused about the man sitting next to her than she was five minutes ago. Every little bit of his personality that she thought she understood had been challenged ever since they sat down together. She had thought he had such a loud, outgoing personality but he constantly kept things quiet and to himself. She thought he was confident and a little vain, but he was actually a little insecure about his true self. She thought he was honest but he lied. It was going to take her awhile to reconcile all of these new characteristics to the man she thought that she knew.

She looked over at Shawn, who had been teasing Gus about something, grinning at his friend with both eyes sparkling with mischief. At least that was one thing that hadn't changed, Shawn has always been an immature goofball.

 **"But what about the ring?"**

 **"Not until this one is done."**

As the Chief walked away, the screen turned black and was replaced with a timer that started at fifteen minutes.

"Why isn't it doing the whole case?" Gus wondered as he stood up to throw away his trash.

"I guess it won't be showing every case we've done." Shawn reasoned. "If it did, we'd be here for like a month straight."

Everyone stood up and stretched, throwing away their empty chicken containers.

"We should walk around and check to make sure there haven't been any cases coming in." Karen said. "One of us should stay here though, to watch the timer and round everyone up for the next part."

"I'll stay." Henry volunteered.

Everyone else filtered out of the room, the Chief and Lassiter heading to their desks.

"Jules, do you want to come with Gus and I on a walk?" Shawn asked.

"I don't think I should, Shawn." Juliet declined.

"Right, you need your space. Sorry." Shawn shook his head and looked down.

"I had a lot of paperwork to do before this as well." Juliet replied. "I think I'm going to try to get a few reports done during the break."

"Good luck, then." Shawn said before joining Gus and leaving the station.

Juliet hurried back to her desk and picked up her next report, but found it hard to concentrate on what was in front of her. She looked up and caught the eyes of Carlton, who was looking at her with a concerned frown. She offered him a weak smile and he looked back at his paperwork. She'd be fine as soon as this video was done and she could think over everything she learned. She just needed a little bit of time and she'd be fine. Totally fine. She picked up her pen and started working on her report, determined to finish it before Henry came to get her for the next part.

 **A/N**

 **So for this chapter, I tried to limit the amount of transcript I used so let me know if it got confusing to read. I rushed a little bit on the editing of this chapter to get it out sooner, I'm planing on having the next chapter done by Sunday.**

 **Review and tell me what you liked or didn't like.**

 **I haven't decided which episode I want to do next, although I'm pretty sure I'll be skipping to the second season. I want to do around 2-3 episodes from each season, so if you have any that you would like to suggest let me know. I'm aiming to do the episodes that showcase Shawn's relationships with the others or just when something big happens (ie. Shawn Takes a Shot in the Dark).**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	5. Psy vs Psy

**A/N**

 **I'm sorry this chapter ended up being so late! I had a lot of things come up and the reactions just weren't coming out right. I tried to expand to chapter to make it up to you guys for taking so long.**

 **Thank you to Salmon pasta crocodile, who recommended this episode. I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Juliet's POV**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Psych. All characters, show story lines, and quotes in bold are not mine.**

"Detectives, you have five minutes." Henry called out. Juliet sighed as she looked up from the page she was was working on. She had been enjoying her break from the confusion that the video had brought her, and if she was honest she enjoyed some quiet time away from Shawn. Sure, paperwork was boring, but she didn't need to think as she went through the monotonous motions.

Sighing, Juliet stood up from her desk and joined Henry as they walked back to the video room, leaving behind Lassiter who still had a few pages left in his report. As they walked, Juliet kept sneaking glances at Henry, but he kept ignoring her until they descended into an awkward silence.

As they made it to the room, Henry held open the door for her. Juliet muttered a quick 'Thanks' before entering, disappointed to see that they were the first people back.

"I've already seen Karen, she said she'd finish what she was working on and then come over." Henry said as he entered in behind her. "It's anyone's best guess where Shawn and Gus are, they'll probably show up at the last minute with food." Juliet smiled at the very real possibility that would be happening. "So while we're in here alone, are you going to ask me what you want to ask me or are we just going to sit in silence?"

Juliet was taken aback by Henry's perceptiveness before she realized that Shawn learned it from somewhere. "Aren't you going to try to talk to me for Shawn?" She finally asked.

Henry snorted. "Shawn's dug himself his own grave, he can fix it."

"Aren't you in the grave too?" Juliet replied. "It's on the video how you knew Shawn was lying, and then you lied to the Chief to cover for Shawn."

Henry sighed and looked around the room before staring at Juliet intently. "You want to know a secret, detective?" Juliet subconsciously leaned forward as Henry continued. "I never lied to the Chief, I told her the truth." (1)

Juliet reeled back in shock. "You did what?!"

"I told her the truth." Henry shrugged.

"But why?"

"I knew the charade would be over eventually, honestly I thought Shawn would be exposed earlier. I took the opportunity to see what Karen thought about the truth, and she said that she had had her suspicions but we both agreed that Shawn could be useful to the department so we let it be." Henry explained.

The door opened and Juliet turned to see the Chief entering the room.

"Chief, have you known the truth this whole time?" Juliet demanded, almost wishing for it to not be true.

Karen sighed. "O'Hara, it was a decision that was made a long time ago-"

Juliet jumped up and started pacing. "So all of those times that I defended Shawn, and talked about how great his psychic ability was, you knew the truth?" She stopped and looked Karen in the eyes, almost daring her friend and mentor to confirm that she'd been in on the whole charade.

"Yes." Karen admitted, looking away.

Juliet slumped in her chair, hands covering her face as she tried to not cry at this new betrayal. "I feel like such an idiot."

"Juliet," Henry put his hand on her shoulder. "You're one of the sharpest detectives I've met, and one of the smartest women I've ever known. Shawn's been trained to use his gifts since he was little, anyone would have believed his lie."

"I don't know if that makes me feel better or not." Juliet sniffed.

"Look," Henry replied, looking at Juliet directly. "I know my son. I know when he's lying. And he's only lied to you about his psychic abilities. Everything else has been very real to him."

Juliet held his stare for a few minutes before turning away and nodding. Henry's words did help to ease a little bit of the doubt that had settled in her chest, but she wanted to see if the video would show when she started dating Shawn to see what his reactions were truly like. Only then did she think she could put all of her fears to rest.

Carlton walked into the room, breaking up the tense atmosphere as he flopped into his seat. "Is this video almost done? I have other things I could be doing." He complained.

"Like more paperwork?" Juliet challenged.

Lassiter just grimaced and didn't bother responding.

"Or is it that you miss Marlowe?" Juliet teased. She knew she had hit the nail on the head when Carlton just shifted in his seat and a flush crept up his neck.

By this point, the video had passed the two minute mark and there was still no sign of Shawn or Gus.

"Should we pause it and go look for them?" Juliet suggested.

"No way." Lassiter argued. "If they're not smart enough to keep track of time it's their own fault.

Juliet glared at him. "I'll try calling Shawn to see where they are."

"Did I hear my name?" Shawn and Gus burst into the room.

"You were almost late." Juliet rolled her eyes.

"Jules, to be late is to be on time, to be on time is to be early, and to be early is never to be thought of."

"Shawn, it's to be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, and to be late is never to be thought of." Gus corrected, sitting down next to his friend.

Shawn shrugged and winked at Juliet. "I've heard it both ways."

The video started with a young Shawn and his father in the principal's office.

 **"Look, this form is a counterfeit. These are serious charges, and my son needs to be punished."**

Juliet was shocked at how harsh Henry was being. He had always been a no-nonsense kind of person, but Shawn was just a kid. She understood how their relationship had deteriorated so much if Henry continued that attitude around Shawn, especially with the divorce. The rest of the scene in the principal's office played out, with Henry continuing to take Shawn's faking his signature very seriously while the principal tried to downplay the event.

The screen changes as it changes back to the future, with Shawn and Gus walking through the police department.

 **"Wait a minute. You're not Lassie."**

 **"Well, I don't know what a Lassie is, but I'm not it. I'm Special Agent Lars Ewing with the FTD."**

"This skipped a lot of cases." Juliet commented.

"Yeah, I wonder how whoever made this choose which cases to use?" Gus asked.

"If the videos go on long enough, we can find out a pattern." Lassiter answered.

"Well, so far the two videos have shown important parts in our relationships with each other." Shawn commented. "The note that was on the video said that it would help us in the future, maybe it's showing us the cases that have important moments between all of us"

Juliet considered Shawn's input before realizing he was right. "So they first showed us your secret, and then my first case in Santa Barbara. What's so special about this one?" She asked.

Shawn shrugged. "I guess we'll figure it out as we watch."

Juliet laughed at Shawn's not so subtle interrogation to find out why Special Agent Ewing was meeting with Chief Vick, only getting an equally unsubtle threat to back off.

 **"This meeting is bigger than we thought."**

"What? So you slap a Special Agent in front of someone's name and that makes you act serious?" Lassiter asked, incredulous.

"It could have been the threat." Juliet reasoned.

Lassiter rolled his eyes and glared at Shawn. "I've been threatening Spencer ever since he darkened the department's door, and it didn't work for me."

"What can I say?" Shawn grinned. "He just had that certain it factor, you know?"

Carlton looked down, pensive, as if he was trying to think of what he could to to get the 'it factor'.

Juliet shook her head at Shawn's teasing, and how susceptible Carlton's ego was.

On the screen, Shawn and Gus almost made it to the Chief's office before Shawn was waylaid by a woman sitting on a bench, making a phone call.

"Really Shawn?" Juliet grumbled. "Are there any cases where you aren't distracted by some girl?"

"I wasn't on the last one." Shawn defended.

"So you're one out of three." Juliet shot back. "Congratulations, you're running a thirty-three percent chance that you're actually thinking with your head." She was frustrated with herself that she was taking this one so personally, she knew better than to be so affected by what these videos were showing. It was so hard though, with her relationship with Shawn having so much uncertainty in it currently. Trying to think straight about anything to do with Shawn's love life, even if it was years ago, was difficult for her.

 **"Shawn Spencer."**

 **"Lindsay Leikin."**

Juliet curled her lips in distaste. "I forgot about her."

"Is that jealousy I hear?" Shawn grinned at her.

Juliet just glared at him, turning back to the screen when he held up his hands in surrender. She rolled her eyes as Shawn tricked Ewing to check his fly, marveling at the lack of respect of almost everyone.

"Ha!" Lassiter pointed to the screen. "He didn't have an it factor."

"Carlton, Shawn just has a talent for disregarding any titles and an incapability of acting like an adult." Juliet replied as the meeting in the Chief's office continued. "Not that the jerk didn't have it coming." She amended as Ewing kept insulting their city and Carlton, while simultaneously flirting with her.

 **"But we already have our own psychic. She's just started in the department and she is already a superstar. Got us so close to the counterfeiter a month ago in Wilmette, Illinois. We must have missed him by only a few minutes."**

Shawn scoffed. "Only because she was in on it."

 **"0700 is 7:00 a. m."**

 **"Precisely, Detective. Striking and whip-smart. Intriguing."**

"You can't say anything about me being distracted with Lindsay when you were just as distracted, if not more, with Ewing." Shawn challenged.

Juliet scoffed. "I was not distracted by Ewing." She denied.

"Oh really?" Shawn asked. "How about a bet then? Whoever is shown being distracted the most at the end loses."

"Who's judging?" Juliet replied.

Shawn looked around. "Gus will decide."

Juliet narrowed her eyes at him before deciding. "You're so on, Shawn."

"Prepare to lose Jules." He taunted.

 **"Little skeptical of psychics, are we?"**

 **"I should have said "just you". And don't think I didn't pick up on that "calluses on my hands" guitar clue. Good one. This is gonna be good. I'm gonna solve this case, and I'm gonna prove you're a fake. Fun, right?"**

Shawn scoffed again, this time muttering under his breath so Juliet couldn't hear what he said.

The video changed to the next day with everyone meeting at Home Depot, Shawn following Ewing and Lindsay as he listened to their conversation.

 **"Okay, you are all instructed to cooperate fully with the federal agents. I'll be damned if we're gonna get shown up on our own turf. They may be the feds, but we are a team and this is our town. They will need us."**

"This is the reason this case was chosen." Shawn observed.

"What, to show our rivalry with the feds?" Lassiter mocked.

Shawn shook his head. "No. Think about it, this was the first case that we all banded together to work on."  
"Right, we wanted to solve the case before they did so we worked together as a team." Juliet realized. She didn't know if she should laugh or roll her eyes at Carlton's mooning over Ewing and Shawn's childish digs at Leikin.

"See!" Shawn exclaimed. "I'm not mooning over Lindsay."

Juliet rolled her eyes. "Shawn, the bet was over who was distracted more not who was mooning over them more. You're being distracted by trying to stick it to Lindsay."

"She is right Shawn." Gus added.

"Man, you're supposed to be on my side." Shawn complained.

Gus clicked his tongue. "Shawn, I was appointed as an impartial judge. That means not taking sides."

Juliet was surprised when Henry popped up on the video, shopping for something.

"I always knew you loved Gus more." Shawn pouted as Gus sided with Henry on screen.

"Gus didn't give me nearly as much trouble as you did, kid." Henry replied.

"That wasn't a contradiction."

Henry smiled. "I know."

Shawn huffed, pouting even harder.

The video showed Shawn and Gus entering the security office, asking to look at the footage from the day before.

 **"There was already a psychic here last night. From Washington, no less. She looked at all the tapes and there was no positive ID."**

"Looking back, that was a pretty obvious clue that something was suspicious about Lindsay." Juliet commented. "I mean, she had no reason to go look at the security footage before the rest of us investigated.

Shawn's pouting intensified as the video showed Lindsay one-upping him on the description of the man who had the counterfeit cash. Juliet winced at their dismissal of Shawn, even though they had been disappointed at Shawn's less than stellar performance they shouldn't have blamed him.

The video changed to Shawn and Gus helping Henry build a wet bar, starting with Shawn's usual sarcasm about anything to do with his father.

 **"Maybe she's just more psychic-y than you."**

 **"Gus, don't be ridiculous. There's no such thing as psychics."**

Juliet took a deep breath and let it out. It didn't hurt her as much anymore when the video showed Shawn being so flippant about his lies, and she hoped this was a sign that she was getting better at processing the whole situation.

"Does Gus always have some sort of weird knowledge about something that helps you solve a case?" Juliet asked as Gus bragged about his coin collection.

"Yes, he's my Velma." Shawn grinned at his friend. "Which of course makes me Fred. And Jules Daphne."

"Oh, please." Lassiter scoffed. "If anything, you two are Shaggy and Scooby."

Juliet put her hand over Shawn's mouth before he could retort, watching as Gus and Shawn talked about the case.

 **"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I already tipped Lassiter off to that. The only one that didn't check out was a new one with no plates."**

"You went to Carlton with your information?" Juliet asked, surprised that Shawn hadn't chased the lead by himself.

"Well, teamwork and all of that jazz, right?" Shawn responded.

Juliet thought back to what Shawn said about this being the first case that they came together as a team, and his actions on the case definitely showed that. On the previous cases, Shawn and Gus investigated by themselves but now they were actually starting to share their information with Carlton.

Onscreen, Gus and Shawn figured out that they should be looking for a car dealership and the setting changed as they walked into the dealership, not realizing that Lindsay had beat them to the punch.

 **"How did you not notice her, Shawn?"**

 **"I wasn't expecting her to be here."**

 **"You were looking right at her."**

 **"She's got me all out of whack."**

 **"Get your head in the game."**

Juliet smirked at Shawn. "You know this pretty much secures my place as winner of the bet, right?"

Shawn just grumbled, looking at the ground.

"I didn't think that she had this much of an effect on you though." Juliet added, looking at Shawn who only grimaced.

"I just wasn't used to somebody seemingly being able to do what I could do." He admitted, showing a rare moment of vulnerability.

"Well, she was faking it so really you are the only one that can do what you do." Juliet smiled at him.

"Yep." Lassiter agreed. "You're the only freak show."

Juliet glared at her partner, but Shawn only grinned at him. "Thanks." He muttered.

 **"So what's going on? No one calls us anymore. That's the new thing? I thought we were a team."**

"You're really accusing us of withholding information from you, Spencer?" Lassiter rolled his eyes.

"I tipped you off earlier about the car." Shawn defended himself.

Juliet blushed as she fantasized about Ewing on screen. "Can we forget that I ever said any of that?" She asked, sliding down in her seat and burying her face in her hands.

"I don't know, Jules. It looks like I might win the bet after all." Shawn teased.

On the video, Lassiter kept fawning over Ewing as they went to inspect the fake bills. Shawn also spoke with Leikin, attempting to team up with her and also date her, ending up being rejected on both points.

"I can't believe it." Lassiter said as Gus told Shawn why the bill would change color. "Gus is Velma."

"Told you so!" Shawn gloated.

"You're still the mutt." Lassiter growled.

Juliet shifted guiltily in her seat as she and the others ostracized Shawn in the Chief's office.

 **"Oh, my God. We're not welcome."**

 **"It's nothing personal, Mr. Spencer. Special Agent Ewing just feels that Ms. Leiken has things covered on the psychic front, and I have to agree with him."**

Henry scoffed. "The one time you agree with the feds is to kick my son off of the investigation? I thought you knew better than that Karen."

"Henry, up to this point on the investigation Mr. Spencer had done nothing helpful. So yes, I decided to take him off of the case." Karen defended.

 **"Where are we going? Shouldn't we have stayed until they checked the bills out?"**

 **"Wait for it. Wait for it…"**

Juliet shook her head at Shawn's overconfidence in his skills, but was secretly glad he was no longer under the influence of Lindsay, even if it meant that she lost their bet. Part of her was surprised how far off track he had gotten, but then again given his attention span it really wasn't all that surprising.

 **"So what's our next move?"**

 **"Well, I'll call Washington and begin…"**

 **"I'm sorry, I was asking Mr. Spencer."**

Juliet looked over at Karen and saw her smiling smugly at the scene, and a small idea blossomed in the back of her head. "You knew Shawn had something, didn't you?" She asked.

Karen look at her surprised before smiling. "I didn't know for sure, but I did know that being taking off of the case would make Mr. Spencer more willing to divulge anything that he may have known, or more determined to find something."

Juliet stared back at her, not sure if she should be impressed or wary at how Karen manipulated Shawn into revealing his information. She watched as the scene changed to later that night, with Shawn and Gus in the Psych office.

 **"Are you gonna invite me in?"**

 **"I don't know. I guess."**

"Shawn, that could've been really dangerous for you." Juliet cautioned, forgetting about their bet for the moment. "She was a criminal."

"I didn't know that she was in on it then." Shawn defended.

Juliet glared at him. "If you hadn't been so distracted you might have realized there was something off about her sooner."

"You know she has a point Shawn." Gus agreed.

"You're just jealous." Shawn shot back.

"Of what? That a psycho criminal wanted you over me? No way Shawn." Gus laughed. "And she only wanted you to distract you from the case."

"And we can all see how effective that tactic was." Henry added.

"I just don't think you realize the dangers you're jumping into until you've already jumped." Juliet said, trying to diffuse the argument. She watched as Shawn, Gus, and Lindsay sat down to try to find where the counterfeiter's den was.

 **"Wait. I'm also...I'm also getting something in French. A sign, maybe? Could it be a European hotel?"**

"Even I thought you were smarter than that, Spencer." Lassiter commented.

"What?" Shawn tried to look innocent.

"Shawn, she basically gave you the location of the hotel and you didn't think twice about how she got that information?" Juliet asked. "You made it clear earlier that you didn't believe that she was actually psychic. How did you think she knew where the hotel was?"

Shawn opened his mouth and closed it a few times, looking at Gus to help him explain his thought process. "It's just-I mean-" He sighed. "It wasn't that big of a leap to me when I started thinking about it. They would need a building under construction, as well as somewhere to stay while they were in town. A hotel under construction made sense. I did kind of get caught up in the moment and forget about her knowing so many specifics." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

Juliet rolled her eyes, thinking that she totally had won the bet. She smiled as onscreen Shawn and Gus fell into their almost constant friendly banter, and felt vindictive pleasure when Lindsay bit into the uncooked cake. Served her right.

The video changed to the team entering the hotel the next day. Juliet shook her head as Carlton finally snapped out of his puppy dog infatuation with Ewing, leading to the two men trying to fight each other.

She leaned over to Carlton, who was scowling at the scene. "Well at least you're not stupid enough to realize your partner is a criminal."

Lassiter looked away from the screen in surprise before relaxing in his seat, a small smile on his face. "Thanks, O'Hara."

The video continued as Ewing and Carlton still tried to one-up each other to find the room while Shawn and Lindsay spouted off various 'psychic deductions' until they narrowed down the right room. It struck her that the only person they had come across that was able to do something like Shawn was someone that was involved in the crime and knew everything beforehand. She was once again amazed by Shawn's abilities to draw conclusions from the smallest amounts of evidence to help solve cases.

 **"Wait. No, I'm getting more. I'm getting a lot more, like $500,000, which would last more than just a while. Maybe... maybe a whole lifetime."**

Juliet smirked as Shawn figured out the correct amount of money, sharing his triumph in being the first to find that clue.

 **"I'm just not getting that feeling, at all. Anything over 50,000 is just getting blocked from my receptors. Not a chance."**

 **"Receptors? Really?"**

"So you finally realized something wasn't right." Juliet commented. "Better late than never, I guess." She teased.

"Ah, right." Shawn laughed unconvincingly. "Totally knew she was in on it then."

"Shawn, what did you do?" Juliet asked slowly.

"Nothing?" Shawn shifted, his statement coming out more like a question.

Juliet turned and watched the screen, sneaking glances at Shawn who was still refusing to make eye contact with her.

 **"Shawn, I was thinking maybe we could go somewhere now. Maybe continue working to see if we can't stumble upon some collective apparition."**

Juliet glared at the screen. "Well at least I can hope the video cuts off before we see too much of you 'working together'."

Shawn winced at her comment. "I know it looks really stupid now-"

"Looks stupid now?' Juliet cut him off. "Shawn, she could have tried to kill you or kidnap you. You had already shown her how good you were at finding clues, she might have thought that you would eventually expose her and decided to cut her losses and get rid of the threat. You just don't think things through Shawn." Sighing at Shawn's dejected look she searched for something to say to lighten the mood.

"Well, I know one thing for sure." Gus broke in, waiting for everyone to look at him before continuing. "Juliet definitely won the bet."

Juliet looked at him incredulously for a second before giggling at the ridiculousness of it all. Shawn joined in her laughter and the tension in the room was broken.

 **"Well, as hot as that sounds, I think the psychic world would miss your talents. Just make sure they appreciate you. After a while, the world tends to take people with our abilities for granted."**

Juliet was once again glad that Shawn hadn't developed any long-term vendettas from his rocky relationship with his father. She was becoming more convinced that Shawn would be able to get away with any crime if he really tried.

 **"Really? Would a… Would a certain psychic have anything to do with that?"**

Despite her disagreeing wholeheartedly with Shawn's actions, she couldn't help but smile at his rare display of vulnerability. As she continued to watch more of the video, Juliet realized that Shawn hid behind his bravado and jokes. She liked being able to see this side of him more often. It had come out every now and then, especially when they started dating, but she always had to look a little bit deeper to find it. Now she could just see Shawn, no barriers. Although she would've liked to have a few barriers, she decided as the scene progressed with Shawn and Lindsay moving to the bed. She was glad when it cut to the next morning with Shawn in the room, alone.

 **"You wait till now to call us?"**

 **"I called you as soon as I heard. Do you think I want Junior G-man here to beat me to the punch?"**

Juliet smiled as she watched them all start to work together as a team instead of individuals. Getting Carlton to actually call Shawn into the crime scene was a huge step forward, and was miles ahead of him trying to arrest Shawn every five seconds.

 **"Well, I guess congratulations are in order. We have to hand it to our federal agents here. Though we would have preferred to bring him in and charge him, this case looks pretty much wrapped up."**

Everyone in the room winced at Karen's subtle dig, Juliet remembered that their moral had been pretty low when they had made it back to the station.

 **"You should quit. That's what you do. When things get tough, somebody's better than you, you quit."**

The room filled with tension at Henry's words. Juliet was shocked at the disregard Henry continued to show towards Shawn's skills, but maybe this was his his way of trying to protect Shawn? Trying to get him to quit before he was found out as a fraud?

Juliet didn't understand it, but then again she didn't really understand Shawn protecting Gus by making him lose the spelling bee. Suffice it to say, the Spencer men were pretty terrible at showing their true emotions.

She was also happier than she could say that Shawn ignored his father and continued investigating, they definitely wouldn't have caught Lindsay without Shawn's help. Juliet smiled as the video showed Shawn going to Gus for help. Gus backed up Shawn, somehow simultaneously reassuring Shawn and providing him with an idea, leading the two of them to talk to Ewing's stenographer.

 **"Terrific. I need you to clarify something for me. Two days ago, in the morning, outside the Home Depot center. Ewing and Leikin making small talk. Can you read that back?"**

"See Chief? The stenographer was useful." Lassiter pointed out.

"It's still a no, detective." Karen denied.

Lassiter pouted in his seat, mumbling about the usefulness of stenographers.

"Why did you even go to Mildred if you remembered that morning?" Juliet asked as the video flashbacked to the conversation between Ewing and Lindsay.

"I didn't remember the exact wording." Shawn answered. "It was important to know exactly what they said so I knew I was right."

Juliet nodded at his answer and watched as onscreen Shawn and Gus showed up just in time to catch Lindsay before they left. She shook her head as Shawn threw in a dig at Lassiter in the middle of his accusation, something that her partner wasn't enjoying judging by his glare he was aiming at Shawn.

 **"Well, you were wrong about one thing, Shawn. I didn't sleep with you because you were my enemy. I did it because I really thought we had something."**

"Oh, right. I forgot she told all of us." Juliet said.

"See? If you forgot about it, obviously it wasn't important." Shawn replied quickly.

"Nice try Shawn." Juliet laughed. "You're still losing the bet."

She watched as Shawn was taken hostage by Lindsay before she was subdued by Ewing and the stenographer.

"See Shawn?" Juliet gestured to the screen. "Every time we've watched this you've gotten into dangerous situations, you need to think about your safety."

"Well that's why I've got you." Shawn replied, smiling at her before he realized what he had said. "Um, not that I've got you, because you know...space. And everything-"

Juliet sighed as Shawn kept on nervously babbling. "We just need to think of some safety precautions for you and Gus. Maybe you should carry a gun?" She'd suggest that they just stop running off to investigate on their own, but she knew that would never work. Shawn was too used to going off by himself to ever think about waiting for the rest of him, and he would balk at the idea of having a 'babysitter'.

"You want him to carry a gun?" Lassiter asked incredulously.

Juliet shrugged. "Yeah, why not? We saw in the beginning that Shawn's a good shot."

"I agree with Lassie on this one, Jules." Shawn grimaced.

"We'll discuss our options after this is over." Karen decided. "I think this part is almost done."

"By the way Chief," Lassiter said. "That stenographer clearly has more perks than just recording the investigation. She was instrumental in taking down-"

"Carlton, I am not giving you a stenographer." Karen replied, frustration in her voice.

"I just think that it could be a good addition to the department." Lassiter mumbled, slumping in his seat.

 **"Lassiter spilled a cup of coffee on me and right before I was supposed to get on the plane. Thankfully I keep an extra crisp, white shirt on me. Government issue, folds up to the size of my wallet. Fits in my back pocket. Gotta love those boys in the Gadget Tech Department."**

Juliet groaned again at her blatant appreciation of Ewing, burying her face in her hands. She only looked up when Shawn cleared his throat next to her. "I think someone owes me an apology?" He teased.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, you win. We were both distracted, we'll call the bet a draw."

Shawn's grin widened as he fistbumped Gus.

The screen turned to black, with a timer starting at fifteen minutes again. Juliet found herself disappointed that it was over already, this part was far more fun and lighthearted to watch, barring her embarrassing penchant for Special Agent Ewing. She wished all of the parts were this easy to watch, but she knew there were some very serious parts coming up. If they were right about the creator choosing episodes showcasing their relationships with each other, they would probably be watching the Yin Yang case and when Shawn got shot. Looking over to Shawn, who was laughing about something with Gus, she felt apprehensive how he would handle watching something as personal as his mother being kidnapped in front of everyone. Juliet was determined to be a source of support for Shawn, whatever her feelings might be towards him at the moment.

 **A/N**

 **1\. I thought about this as I was writing this chapter, but I think it was really likely that Henry wouldn't have lied for Shawn at the beginning of the show, given what their relationship was like. Shawn also slipped up on his lie in some pretty obvious ways in front of Karen, yet she never called him out on it. So, I thought what if Henry told her the truth in the beginning? And then that fit in really well with the rest of the story.**

 **Also, I think we all realize I'm not great at giving myself deadlines so I'm not sure when the next update will be. I will be very busy for the next two weeks so I don't know if I'll be able to update at all during that time. However, I know more about where I want to take this story so after the next two weeks I think it should be around a week or less between updates.**

 **Review and tell me what you liked or didn't like.**

 **Up Next: Again, I'm not sure? I want to do at least one more episode from season 2 but I haven't decided for sure which one I want to do yet.**


	6. Intermission 2

**A/N**

 **I feel like I blinked and two months went by...**

 **I'm sorry for the wait, and that this isn't an episode chapter. I've had a lot going in my life that's taken my time away from writing and then this chapter just wouldn't come out right at all. I took a break, got my inspiration back and wrote this chapter.**

 **In the last chapter, it was pointed out to me that someone should've asked where these videos came from, and they should be searching for them. This is something that I had thought about in the prologue and then totally forgot about as I went on. So, to fix this I wrote this chapter as an intermission where we can see some of the investigation into who sent the videos, and I will be doing some minimal editing to the previous chapters to fit this in and fix some other issues I noticed. I will be working on editing as well as the next episode chapter so it may be awhile for me to finish everything and post it all.**

 **Thank you to everyone who has favorited/followed/reviewed, you guys are great and I love all of the episode suggestions you're giving me.**

 **Juliet's POV**

 **Disclaimer: All characters and show story lines do not belong to me.**

"Hey Shawn, can we talk?" Juliet asked as everyone started to leave the room.

Shawn looked at her surprised before shoving his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, sure."

Juliet waited until everyone left the room, using the time to organize her thoughts. When the door finally shut, Juliet took a deep breath and looked at Shawn. His hands were still in his pockets, and his shoulders were hunched. She could tell by the way that he refused to meet her eyes that he was nervous, and he kept shuffling his feet around.

"Look Shawn." She began. "I know I promised you that I wouldn't make any judgments until after the video was over-"

"Can I just say something first?" Shawn interrupted. Juliet sighed and nodded, prompting Shawn to continue. "I know this has been hard for you to watch me lie to you repeatedly, and in the beginning I never thought I would ever come clean. But as the years went by and we got closer, there's been so many times that I've wanted to tell you the truth. And I know that doesn't make what I did right-"

"Shawn, we've been over this." Juliet reached out and pulled his hands out of his pockets and held them.

"What are you-"

"Shawn." Juliet took a deep breath and looked into his eyes. "I've spent almost the entire time watching this video trying to stay angry and hurt, but I just keep watching you help other people with this gift you have and it's amazing. And I've seen what it's been like for you between the pressure from us to solve cases and how much you enjoy being a detective. I just can't stay angry at you."

"Jules-" Shawn breathed, a spark of hope igniting in his eyes.

Juliet shook her head. "Let me finish. If we're right about what kind of cases are being picked, then I know there are going to be some that are difficult for all of us to watch. We might watch you get shot, or when your mother was kidnapped, and in almost all of them you or Gus get injured somehow. I know it's stupid because you're sitting right next to me, but every time that happens I just get scared that you're not okay-" At this point, all of the frustration of the day was pouring out of Juliet, scrambling her brain so much that she wasn't even sure what she was saying anymore but she was gripped with the need to just keep talking.

"Jules." Shawn cut her off, pulling her into a tight hug. She didn't realize how much she had missed Shawn, missed the feeling of safety she had when she was with him. In that moment, Juliet knew that despite all of the heartache Shawn's lies had caused, she simply couldn't keep up her frosty demeanor towards him. Being able to get all of her thoughts and feelings off of her chest left her feeling empty, but peaceful. All of the swirling emotions that had been present since this morning died down and in this moment it was just her and Shawn.

She wrapped her arms around Shawn, wishing that they could just stay like this. "I love you." She mumbled into his torso.

Shawn kissed the top of her head. "I love you too."

Juliet pulled back and looked at the screen, noticing they only had four minutes left before the next clip started. "We should get the others."

Shawn nodded. "Yeah we should." He let go of her, turning to leave the room.

"Wait." Juliet grabbed his hand and followed him, unwilling to let him go just yet.

As they entered the hallway, they came face to face with Henry who quirked up an eyebrow at the pair.

"Are you finally done then?" Henry asked.

"What?" Shawn gaped. "I don't-"

Henry pushed off of the wall he was leaning on. "I opened the door to see how much time we had left and the two of you looked cozy so I left you alone."

Juliet watched a blush creep up Shawn's neck as her own face felt pretty hot. "Do you know where the others are?" She asked, trying to act nonchalant.

"They didn't walk in on you." Henry smirked. "I'm the only one who's been by, I don't know where everyone else is."

"We should go find them." Juliet said.

As the trio turned to go down the hallway, Lassiter appeared. "Spencer, we need you to look at a suspect." He barked.

"What? We really have a case going on right now?" Shawn asked as they followed the detective towards the interrogation rooms.

Lassiter rolled his eyes. "We caught the kid that dropped off the video this morning."

"You caught who did this?" Juliet asked, questions swirling in her head. Did they know him? How did he get the videos? Why did he send them?

"No." Lassiter denied. "It seems as though he's just the messenger, but we want to know if you've ever seen him before."

They entered the observation room, seeing Gus already waiting for them. In the interrogation room was a guy, maybe eighteen, handcuffed to the table. He had dark hair, but his eyes were closed and he was slumped in his chair. Juliet watched as Carlton entered the room, and sat across from the mystery kid.

"Your name is Maximus." Lassiter started.

"Call me Max." The kid interjected.

Carlton glared at Max before continuing. "According to your statement, a man came up to you and offered you money to deliver a package to the Santa Barbara Police Department."

"Yeah, that's right."

"What did this man look like?"

Max rolled his eyes. "I don't know. Old."

"Anything else?" Carlton clenched his fists.

Max shrugged. "He had brown hair, wore glasses."

"What about height?"

"Tall."

"Define tall." Carlton growled.

"Do I look like a ruler to you, man?" Max complained.

"I don't think you even know how to use a ruler." Carlton responded.

"Wow, this kid's doing a better job than I do at making Lassie mad." Shawn commented. "Do you think I could top him if I went in and congratulated him?"

Juliet rolled her eyes. "I don't think that should be a goal Shawn."

"Yeah, and you don't need to give Lassiter any more reasons to shoot you, man." Gus added.

"Fair enough." Shawn shrugged. "I've never seen that kid before though." Gus, Henry and Juliet all agreed that they had never seen Max before either.

"Taller than you." Max finally answered.

"That'll be it for now." Carlton got up and started to leave the room.

"Hey man, when do I get to leave?" Max called.

Lassiter didn't bother responding, growling under his breath as he left the room. He entered the observation room, still glaring at Max through the one way mirror.

"Do any of you recognize him?" He asked.

"No, we haven't seen him before." Juliet answered, disappointed that her questions wouldn't be answered any time soon.

"We figured he was telling the truth, the Chief is pulling in the sketch artist to try to get whoever actually did this." Carlton said.

"We should probably get back to the video room then." Gus suggested.

"Oh no!" Juliet exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Carlton asked.

"There was only four minutes on the timer when Shawn and I left to get you guys, it's probably already started." She explained.

"We should get going then." Henry decided. The five of them left the observation room, and as they walked Juliet grabbed Shawn's hand again, feeling more ready for the next case than she had been for the others. She knew that whatever happened, they would be there for each other.

 **A/N**

 **Finally Shawn and Juliet make up! I don't really take Juliet's character as one to hold a grudge and with the episodes coming up they'll need each other. I hope you liked the interrogation scene, and maybe caught on to the Maximus reference?**

 **Review and tell me what you liked or didn't like!**

 **Up Next: Shawn (and Gus) of the Dead**


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